


Last Hope [Akashi Seijuurou x Reader]

by naochan33



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Medical, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awkward Romance, Doctors & Physicians, Emergency Medical Technicians, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Horror, Human, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Medical, Minor Character Death, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Nurses & Nursing, Original Character Death(s), Pain, Past Character Death, Police, Slow Romance, Surgeons, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-02-17 22:04:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 54,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13086297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naochan33/pseuds/naochan33
Summary: "We're alive and that's all that matters, right?" Reimi closed her jade green eyes in relief. [Code S.A.D. stands for the Special A&D team. However, it is the symbol of the last hope for those who are on the brink of death - the gate to the end or the continuation of their life.] "When will everything come to an end...?" Akashi shut his maroon eyes tiredly. (Adult AU) (Akashi x OC)Note: S.A.D. stands for Special A&D (team). A&D stands for Accident & Emergency Department.(Cross-posted on FF.NET and Quotev)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: I am not a medical student and I used various websites and materials (such as clinic, university, and other online sources) to research about all the medical information that I needed. Please excuse any inaccuracies (if there are any) with the medical procedures stated in the story. Also please take into consideration that I am merely taking a creative license.

Twenty-six year old Akashi Seijuurou tightened his grip around his paper cup lightly. His voice conveyed a tone of utter dismay that belied the pleasant smile on his face.

"So you've been assigned to the Special A&D team?" Midorima Shintarou shifted his glasses slightly as he sipped on his tea.

"But that's…" Kuroko Tetsuya's blank face momentarily twitched with displeasure. "You're already busy enough as it is in the emergency room…"

"It's fine. Nothing that I can't handle…" Despite his words, Akashi's eyes flashed in plain annoyance.

"Think of it as a way to obtain the department chief position." The tall green-haired male murmured to them. "As long as you do well, which we both know you will, you'll become the youngest department chief in the hospital. That'll also help you get what you want…"

"I know. That's why I accepted it  _gratefully_." The dignified red haired male swirled the tea in his cup nonchalantly before drinking the rest. "He's going to retire soon and the entire department acknowledges that I'm the most capable there. If he doesn't choose me, then he just lacks the foresight to recognize people's potential."

"I hope everything works out well." Kuroko's expression briefly darkened as though anxious of the future before reflexively reconstructing it back into one of blankness.

"Anyways, it's your first year here." Midorima faced the short blue-haired male. "How is it so far?"

"It's been fairly easy. The children don't really notice me so it's been smooth sailing."

"Using misdirection?" Akashi knowingly asked.

Kuroko nodded with a look of mischief in his eyes. "I don't think I'll have many problems getting used to the hospital."

" _Code S.A.D. I repeat. Code S.A.D. Akashi-sensei. Please come to the ER immediately. Over."_ Akashi's walkie-talkie buzzed loudly in his pocket.

He immediately stood up and pushed the button on the device. "I'm on my way. Over." Slipping the device back into his pocket, he crumpled the cup and tossed it into the trash can. "I'll see you two later." Without waiting for a reply, he briskly dashed to the emergency room.

"Akashi-kun, over here!" A fellow doctor motioned over to him. They both ran to the helicopter pad.

"Get in!" After they sat down in their respective seats, they both put on headphones, adjusting the microphone attached to it.

"Tell me the situation in more detail, paramedics." Akashi calmly ordered.

" _A building has collapsed. There are currently ten people trapped underneath a pile of rocks, but the firefighters have managed to save seven. Two of them are in bad condition, but we are stabilizing their condition to the best of our abilities. Five are in mild condition but need to be checked over to make sure they're fine_."

"What about the remaining three?" The other doctor asked.

" _The firefighters just pulled the rocks away, so we can now determine their conditions. Oh god_." The voice turned static for a moment. " _One has their leg crushed by debris. Another has lost consciousness but is still breathing and we have just secured them. The last… They have a pole stabbed through their body. If we remove it, they will bleed to death. As of now, these three will be placed under our first priority. We also sent the previous seven patients to the nearest major hospitals. Unfortunately, they currently do not have room for the last three_."

"Not to worry. We'll be there in approximately 60 seconds." Akashi stated. "Cut the pole as close to his body as possible, making sure to not move him around recklessly. We need him to stay in the same position as he is right now."

" _Understood._ "

The moment the helicopter landed, the other pulled out a bag and slammed the door open. "Let's go!"

Following his lead, Akashi also grabbed his bag and jumped out while scanning the area. Debris flew around the area, causing him to shield his eyes with one hand. As the distinct crying of people surrounding the accident entered his ears, he purposefully strode towards a paramedic, who guided him to the male with the pole stabbed through him. His eyes narrowed before he began to check the man's vitals. "The pole pierced through his heart…"

"Can you hear me, sir? Can you hear me?" Akashi lightly shook the patient and checked the state of the male's eyes with a mini flashlight.

"What should we do?" The paramedic turned towards him for directions. "We cut off as much of the pole as possible, but-"

"We'll move him to the helicopter." Standing up, he called out to the other doctor with the walkie-talkie. "Masuda-senpai, we need to move this patient first to our hospital and do surgery on him immediately!"

" _You have my permission to go first! I'm currently taking care of this patient's leg, so go on ahead!_ "

Akashi immediately motioned for the paramedics to help him transfer the patient onto a stretcher carefully. Once they were securely inside the helicopter, he closed the door shut while checking the injured man's vitals. He put on headphones once again, readjusting the microphone attached. Meanwhile, the paramedic pressed the air pump repeatedly.

"This is S.A.D. We need to do an emergency operation. Please set up a room for me immediately. The male is in his early 50's. He currently has a pole through his heart. His BP is dropping at a moderately fast rate due to blood loss. His blood type…"

"It's Type B, Doctor." The paramedic called out as he examined a card from the unconscious male. "We luckily managed to find it."

"Bring as many pouches of blood type B to the room." Akashi ordered the nurse on the other end as he silently commanded the paramedic to inject one of the medications. "We will be there in 50 seconds."

" _Understood. We will have a room open and set up for you immediately. Please head to Room 3. Unfortunately, Yamada-sensei is operating at the moment and is unavailable to assist you. You will have your usual team in the operation room except for your main assistant._ "

"Is anyone else available to assist me?"

" _Well-_ "

A new voice took over. " _I'll assist you_."

"And who are you?" Akashi asked.

" _A doctor who wants to save the patient like you._ " The unfamiliar female voice answered.

"Name."

" _Tsukishiro Reimi_."

"Tsukishiro-san, while I applaud your passion in wanting to help, I'm afraid that I cannot easily agree to accept your assistance. After all, I have never heard of you, so please give me another doctor who is available."

Slight annoyance tinged her voice. " _I am more than capable. I'm a part of S.A.D._ "

"No one told me that you're a part of S.A.D. Are you even capable enough to follow me as an assistant?" His tone remained neutral despite the frustration he felt at the female's lack of understanding.

" _If you want another doctor, that's fine, but you'll need to wait another hour for one to even be available. During that time, as you should be fully aware, the patient will pass away. Is that what you want?_ "

"..."

"We will be there in a few seconds." The pilot announced.

"Experience?" He asked.

" _2 years of general surgery in the ER. 1 year of emergency vascular and trauma surgery. 1 month in S.A.D._ "

"Alright. You're in. Do you know the patient's condition?"

" _Yes. What's his BP right now?_ "

"It's currently at 97."

" _Then we'll need to hurry. I'll be in the operation room in advance. The technicians will finish scanning him by the time you're prepared to start the surgery._ "

"Alright."

"We're here!" The pilot yelled out as they landed.

The nurses and physicians immediately gathered around as they transferred the patient to a gurney before pushing it to the medical center. Akashi advanced to the operation room once he changed his clothes and finished scrubbing. When the door opened, his usual team waited for him as they set up the surgery room. An unfamiliar female walked purposefully towards him with the scans in her hand. "Here are his scans. We will need to work fast throughout the entire process so that he won't lose any more blood."

Akashi's red eyes flickered over her appearance from her short silver hair to her narrow jade green eyes. The healthy pink glow on her pale skin faded away from her cheeks as if he had momentarily imagined it as she stood in front of him. "Tsukishiro-san?"

"Yes." At once, he took the scans from her and memorized it in a few minutes as she summarized the major points of the procedure out loud for him. "That should have been sufficient enough as a review… Now let's get started if you're ready."

"Of course." He let the scrub nurse put on his gloves. Standing in front of the patient, he recalled all the information about the patient before calling out for a scalpel. Tsukishiro Reimi stood across from him as if analyzing his every move and then proceeded to focus on the task at hand once he cut through the skin.

"Let's pull out the pole now." He grimaced as his new assistant quietly agreed. They tugged at the pole repeatedly until it finally came out, squirting blood on their faces immediately. She grunted before asking for a surgical clamp. Without him needing to explicitly say it, she placed the clamp into his hand as he searched for the source of the bleeding. Without further delay, she used the suction and cloths to control the blood loss as one nurse pumped the blood pouch to keep the BP stabilized.

"Did you find it yet?" Reimi muttered.

"Almost."

"Doctor! BP is starting to drop! 90, 86-"

Akashi's eyes narrowed with intense concentration. "Close to it…"

"82-"

"His heart rate is starting to fall too!" Reimi warned him.

"Got it!" He finally used the clamps to compress the bleeding. "How are the vitals now?" He breathed heavily while the nurse wiped his forehead carefully.

Reimi answered calmly. "BP is starting to revert back to normal."

"Heart rate is stabilizing, Akashi-sensei." The nurse looked relieved before continuing the task of pumping the blood pouch.

"Then let's finish this." Akashi heavily exhaled and started the next step of the surgical procedure. Reimi nodded in agreement.

After a couple of hours of intense concentration, the surgery was finally coming to an end. Reimi began to admire the skill of the younger surgeon as he artfully handled the wound with ease. When he finished, he motioned for her to close up the rest. Her fingers twitched in anticipation as she took over his work flawlessly and speedily.

Throughout the procedure, Akashi noted with pleasure that Reimi followed him without any major difficulties. After all, it was unusual for one to do so since most struggled immensely until they were somewhat used to his speed and technical ability. Even his main assistant, Doctor Yamada, never reached a level in which he could comfortably support Akashi. It momentarily reminded him of the days when Midorima assisted him sometimes during an operation. Her high skill level was further confirmed when he allowed her to finish the surgery herself. He smiled inwardly at the thought of potentially having a new assistant who could match him perfectly in the operation room.

"Cut." Reimi ordered. With the last snip, the surgery was now over.

"The surgery is a success." Akashi announced. "Good work, everyone."

As the nurses moved the patient out of the operation room, Akashi turned towards Reimi. "Tsukishiro-san, I apologize for doubting you before. If I had known that you were very skilled, I would have agreed immediately. I hope you won't hold it against me."

"I would have done the same if I was in the same position as you. They should have told you that I was part of the team, so it's not your fault in the first place." Her empty expression remained cold as if having to interact with others was a huge chore. Suddenly, she gave him a firm smile that brightened her face in an easygoing manner while holding out her hand for him to shake. "Welcome to S.A.D. I hope you enjoy being part of the team."

He took her hand and shook it slowly, absorbing her features and her obvious disinterest in him. To him, it felt a little strange to be treated that way. "It's a pleasure."

She then quickly released his hand and exited the room after giving him a short wave. "See you then."

He stood in the room in silent contemplation as the door closed behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

Reimi stood in front of a door with a hardened expression. She knocked twice before announcing herself to the department chief.

"Come in." At his words, she let herself in and locked eyes with the older man. "So what is the problem, Tsukishiro-sensei?"

"The problem is your inability to inform the newest member about the existence of ALL team members." She grunted in displeasure. "You forced me to take the entire day off yesterday and during that time, you introduce a new member to the team. Now, what are the odds of you forgetting to mention my name?"

"Ah… That would be the leader's responsibility. I know that you're going to mention that I introduced you to everyone when you were first placed on the team, but I only took over his duty that one time because we're close to each other. And while I did force you to go on break, since you never took a day off once you were placed here, I thought that he had the capability of remembering all of his team members' names." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I apologize in place of him, so why don't you forgive him already?"

Her eyebrow twitched. "I refuse to accept such an apology from the department chair. After all, none of it was even remotely your fault in this case. Instead, I will hear from him directly as to why he just  _happened_  to forget to mention my name."

"Please do go easy on Masuda-sensei." He smiled wryly at her. "He has been stressed out lately."

"Oh please… He's thick-skinned enough to handle it." She plopped down on the chair across from him. "Anyways, why did you place me on this team in the first place?"

"You know why…"

"I doubt those motivations." She held her chin up high as if scoffing at his words. "I can tell if you're telling the truth or lying from a mile away. Don't try to mess with me. After all, it's been years since-"

"I know, but anyways, just understand that it was the best move to make on my part for you to be on the team. For both yourself and the hospital."

"I dislike that phrase:  _it's for your own good_." Reimi emphasized each word with undisguised disgust.

"You always did say that to me." He chuckled. "I seem to forget that these days. Getting old is taking a toll on me."

Her harsh countenance softened a little as she whispered, "It's fine. You always listened to me and took it in stride. I envy that ability of yours sometimes."

He stayed silent as he watched the young female surgeon. "Rei-kun. You know that it's not-"

"I know. I know, but…" Her fists tightened. "My mind says one thing, but my heart feels otherwise. It's already hard enough-" She suddenly sprang from the chair she was sitting on, as if to physically shut out the feelings that were threatening to overwhelm her. "I'm going to go now. Have to negotiate with the leader to get that  _apology_ , right?" Her lips widened in a mixture between a grin and a grimace.

"Don't push yourself too hard again or else I'll force you to take another day off." The chief warned her as she bowed and closed the door behind her.

As she walked through the hallway, she heard whispers among the nurses about the official partner assignments for S.A.D. "Akashi-sensei is almost done with his trial period, right?"

"Yes, he's doing so well. It's as if he was always a part of S.A.D."

"Who do you think will be assigned to him as his partner?"

"Masuda-sensei is great, but I don't think he'd be able to keep up with Akashi-sensei..."

"I think Tsukishiro-sensei will get assigned to him. That's what I heard from the Head Nurse."

"Tsukishiro-sensei is so lucky to have eye candy like him~"

"She's been unlucky so far with her current partner, Moku-sensei, so I hope it's true." The short nurse sighed.

"Why do you say that?"

"Their level of skill is too far apart for them to make an effective pair!" She huffed to herself before continuing. "I always thought that Moku-sensei was a better match with Masuda-sensei, so I was surprised when they assigned him to Tsukishiro-sensei."

Another nurse walked up to them to give her two cents on the matter. "With her skills, Tsukishiro-sensei definitely deserves an amazing partner like Akashi-sensei. It's about time, I say."

"Hmm…" Tsukishiro-sensei hummed to herself as she passed by them with apparent disinterest. When she reached her destination, she gave a couple sharp knocks on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Tsukishiro Reimi."

"Come in." The moment she opened the door, Doctor Masuda looked up at her from his desk. "So what's the problem?"

"Was there a specific reason as to why you forgot to tell Akashi-sensei about me?"

He laughed sheepishly to himself. "That's my fault. I'll admit that. I was too focused on introducing the members who were in front of him… and then Code S.A.D. occurred right after."

"Makes sense. I suppose I can take that excuse." She stood there in silence before nodding to herself. "Well, there's no point in staying here any longer."

"Ah, wait."

"Yes?"

"Akashi-sensei has requested for me to make you his main assistant since Yamada-sensei wants to go under my wing. Is that alright with you?" Doctor Masuda smiled pleasantly to her. "He will also become your main assistant if you agree. He is quite the competent surgeon, so you won't have any worries in the operation room."

"I am well aware of his competence in surgeries. However, I have worked with you as your main assistant and you as mine for a straight month. I dislike having to change so often when it comes to partnership and teamwork. While I would rather keep the system that we had going, if Yamada-sensei wants to work with you for his own improvement as a doctor, then I have no issues with changing assistants and being someone else's."

"I thought you would at least fight for me."

She smiled. "I've learned enough from you. Plus Akashi-sensei's abilities as a doctor are something I wish to see for myself more. I only just met him during his second Code S.A.D. session. This week is his training period, correct?"

"Yes. We'll be reassigned partners officially once he's done with this week."

"Alright. Are you going to be the one informing Akashi-sensei about the assistant swap?"

"Yes."

"Then I shall take my leave now." Her gaze paused at the rotation schedule on his wall. "Masuda-sensei. It's been a while since your last break, correct?"

"Ah, yes… My wife has been going mad about that lately." He put his hands on his face, suddenly looking tired.

"I would be happy to cover your overnight shift for you today if you'd like."

"Really?"

"I was already forced to take a day off recently, thanks to the chief, so I'd like to take your shift if you're fine with that."

Doctor Masuda stood up with a bright expression on his face. "Of course I'm fine with that! I'll take care of it for you, so the shift change will be officialized in an hour!"

"Thank you." She bowed at the door. "I shall take my leave now."

* * *

Soon after Reimi managed to catch her breath from finishing her rounds and assigned surgeries for the day, the department chief called her into his office. Once she sat down, she looked at him curiously. "Is there something that you need from me?"

"I just wanted to check up on you." The chief grabbed a teapot as he filled his cup with hot tea. "Tea?" She shook her head. He placed it back on the table.

"Tell me the truth." Her voice softened.

He sighed in frustration. "Why did you decide to take Masuda-sensei's overnight shift?"

"Because he's exhausted from today's S.A.D." She answered as if it was the most obvious explanation ever.

The chief swirled his cup slowly. "Is that all?"

She laughed. "Why else would I take someone else's overnight shift? No one even likes them."

"Rei-kun!" He scolded.

She shrugged. "Anyways, I heard that Akashi-sensei will be my new partner, is that correct?"

"Yes, I already informed him of the official partner assignment earlier today, but that's not the point right now." He put down his cup. "Your father-"

Reimi interrupted him as her expression hardened. "Gosha-sensei, I'm no longer the child that you treated before. You can't try to protect me forever."

"How can I protect you when  _you_  are your greatest threat?" His voice trembled in suppressed anger.

She began to slowly empty out her thoughts as all signs of emotion disappeared from her expression. "I have to go now. Have to cover Masuda-sensei's shift."

"Alright. Go on ahead." His shoulders slumped as he whispered out. "While I can't protect you from everything, I can at least try… Your father..."

"Never understood me." She stood in front of the door. "And that…" Her voice faded away, leaving behind a tense silence. She finally turned the doorknob and exited the room. The solemn heaviness in the air unsettlingly answered the chief's every concern.

On her way back to the ER, Reimi flinched when she suddenly heard the screaming of a middle-aged man. "LET ME SEE A DOCTOR ALREADY!"

"What is going on here, Tanaka-san?" At Reimi's question, the nurse turned towards her in relief.

"Tsukishiro-sensei!"

"Where are the other doctors?" She looked around and found only physicians around.

"They're all preoccupied right now." Nurse Tanaka answered with a sigh.

"And what are the odds of that…" Reimi sighed to herself. "And security?"

"On its way."

Another nurse screeched when the man grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray. "Get me a doctor! Or I swear I'll hurt someone!" The hostility in his figure was obvious. He looked like he would attack any second now.

"This isn't good." Reimi approached the agitated male carefully. "Sir, I am a doctor who will help you. Tell me what's wrong."

"You're a doctor! You can guess what's wrong then." The male twitched in an awkward way. His hand swiped in front of his face as if he was trying to swat away a fly.

"Sir, I might be a doctor, but I'm not a mind-reader. How about I ask you a few questions in order to perhaps guess what the problem might be?" Her heart galloped as she kept her eyes on him from her location.

"Fine. Hurry it up! But if you don't guess correctly, then-"

"I understand." She stood there quietly for a moment, scanning his body. While it was generally obese in the center, he had unusually thin arms and legs. His face shape was completely round as if he had severe swelling on his cheeks. She then spotted the dark marks on his skin. "Sir, has it been easy to get bruises lately?"

"Yes. It has. Is that all you're going to ask? I thought you were a doctor! Are you going to ask about how slow my wounds heal these days?!"

Alarmed at the implication of his words, she voiced out. "You suddenly started having a hard time healing from wounds at a rate that you do not consider to be normal?"

"Of course I am! But no one believes me until I show them!" He suddenly chuckled, swiping the scalpel around him joyfully. "It's just a ploy! All of it makes perfect sense! I am the best out of everyone here! I deserve to be treated like king!"

She, at first, suspected that he had a high chance of having bipolar disorder, but his body state implied otherwise. In that case, she concluded that he most likely had another condition."Do you have any muscle weakness?"

"Muscle weakness?! I guess I have. My shoulders and thighs sometimes become weak. But what does that have to do with anything?! I feel great! I  _am_  great!"

"Sir, if it's alright with you, are you willing to take a few tests? I have something in mind, but I cannot confirm unless we get these tests done. It will take approximately 48 hours for the diagnosis to be confirmed after testing, but we can make you feel better during that time." Reimi took a cautious step forward.

The man shook his head before tightening his grip on the scalpel. "I…"

"It'll be alright. Let me just take that from you and everything will work out for you." She held out her hand, waiting patiently for his next move. No one made a sound as they all held their breath in fear of further agitating the patient. She locked eyes with him and watched the way his eyes dilated a little before focusing on her.

He took a small step forward. His hands began to shake as he held it towards her.

She saw his eyes become extremely dilated and before she could react, his cry rang through the air. The shining glint of the scalpel headed in her direction. Nurse Tanaka's scream pierced the air, further escalating the sense of chaos. Without warning, firm hands gripped her arms, pulling her towards them. The scalpel barely missed her neck as she fell to the ground in shock. A fluttering of red hair momentarily blinded her.

The sudden blur of red and white caused a wave of nausea to overcome her. The next second, she watched as the male patient fell down to his knees in confusion; the scalpel was no longer in his hand.

Before she had time to process everything fully, someone dragged her up and pulled her out of the chaotic area while she distantly watched the security detain the man.

"Tsukishiro-san." The buzzing from the screams and chaos rung in her ears continuously. Dazed, she stared at the sliding doors of the emergency room.

" _Tsukishiro-san_!" The person calling her name kept shaking her until she finally noticed who it was.

"Oh. It's you." Reimi blinked as she then realized that Akashi had been the one to pull her back just in time before she sustained a fatal injury. At the same time, he had also somehow stopped the man and taken the scalpel from him so that security could easily restrain him. "How did you…?"

"Tanaka-san was worried about you, so she brought me to the ER once I finished my surgery. Just what on earth were you thinking...?" His red eyes narrowed, but only his pursed lips were an indication as to how he felt about the situation -  _frustration_.

"Cushing's Syndrome." She answered. Interestingly enough, she noticed that he visibly flinched at her words, despite it being so minute that she might have completely missed it in any other situation.

"What…?" He breathed out.

"Weren't you asking me what I suspect the patient has?"

He stared at her with an unreadable expression before asking, "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. You saved me in the nick of time. If you hadn't pulled me back, I would have probably been badly injured."

"No, I mean, did you hit your head or something?"

"...No. Why do you ask?"

"Why didn't you wait for security? That was the most logical thing to do in that kind of situation."

"He was getting too agitated. I didn't want the patients to get hurt because security was too slow."

"So you thought that heading into such a situation would be wise?" His voice rose a little.

She felt his hand wrap around her arm tightly as she replied cooly. "I never said it was wise. I know that it wasn't wise, but it was better than doing nothing."

"That's  _irresponsible_  of you. If you want to remain as partners, start thinking about your actions carefully before doing it." A deep anger burned in his eyes then. It was as if he was not seeing Reimi but _someone_  or  _something else_.

"And I already admitted that I'm aware of the consequences of my actions. So just what exactly are you angry about?" She forcefully loosened his grip on her arm and pulled him forward, locking eyes with him. "I can tell that it's not about me diving into danger. So what are you angry about, Akashi-sensei? What is making  _you_  so agitated?"

Immediately, as if those words had flipped a switch, the anger dissipated in his eyes. Reimi thought she saw a chilling coldness in those red eyes then but she figured she was mistaken as Akashi reverted to his usual calm demeanor.

There was a beat of silence before Akashi gave a polite smile as if it was the most natural thing to do. "My apologies, Tsukishiro-san. I let my emotions get the better of me. It won't happen again." Before Reimi could formulate a response, he continued. "So why do you think it's Cushing's?"

Since Reimi had already figured out his anger was not towards her, she decided it was not any of her business to inquire any further regarding his reaction. He had apologized as well so she released her hold on his arm and decided to answer his question instead. "At first, I believed it to be bipolar disorder, but the answers to the questions about his body led me to believe that he had something in addition to bipolar disorder. That was when I recalled how Cushing's can sometimes make the person develop depression or psychological disorders. I'll need him to take a few tests to confirm the diagnosis, but so far, that is my initial impression. Of course, it can be that my brain is just being influenced from last night's reading on Cushing's. After all, that's quite the coincidence." She rambled to herself, momentarily forgetting that he was there.

"Right…" Akashi firmly placed a hand on her shoulder as he moved to leave the area. "Go rest. I'll go order the specific tests that need to be done."

"Thanks. I'll be in the resting room." She unconsciously rubbed the area on her arm that he had squeezed earlier.

"Tsukishiro-san."

"Yes?"

"Please don't ever do that again unless it's completely safe." Reimi felt as if slight agitation tinted his voice again.

"I can't promise you that, but I'll try not to do something stupid again."

That seemed to have an effect on him. His shoulders seemed to loosen slightly as he gave her a nod. He ran his fingers through the soft red locks of his hair and a warm smile graced his lips before he walked away from her.

She briefly wondered just how much of that smile was real and just how much of it was used to hide how he truly felt about the world. "It's not my problem though. Not interesting enough for me." She murmured to herself as she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of her chosen destination. Instead of the resting room as she had told Akashi, she aimed for the cubicle in order to read up some more on Cushing's.

* * *

"Please get the overnight dexamethasone suppression test done and then in the morning afterwards, take a few CT and MRI scans on his pituitary and adrenal glands." Akashi calmly ordered the nurse.

"Understood." The nurse soon walked away as he scanned the relatively intact emergency room.

"I guess I'll get some reading done."

"On what?" A familiar deep voice asked.

"Midorima? What are you doing here?"

"I heard that there was a mess in the ER. I wanted to know exactly what happened." The tall male crossed his arms while assessing the damage; he soon turned his attention to Akashi again. "Do you want your lucky item for today?"

"No thank you."

"A shame. It could have helped prevent such an incident." Midorima shook his head but did not seem bothered by Akashi's rejection.

"It's the ER. Anything goes."

Midorima pushed his glasses up by the bridge before responding matter-of-factly, "It never occurred whenever I was on shift with my lucky item at hand." Before Akashi could respond, he continued. "I'll be heading back to the neurology department then."

Used to Midorima's roundabout tendencies, Akashi smiled slightly before responding. "I'll tell you about it later then, Midorima."

With those words, the two parted ways.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning, Akashi-sensei." Nurse Tanaka smiled at him as she handed him a file. "All the tests have been completed for yesterday's patient. Here are the results."

His red eyes scanned the information before he decisively tapped his pen against the papers. "Bring him in."

Before the patient entered the room, he pulled up the scans against the lightscreen to examine them. "Adrenal…" He murmured to himself.

"He will be coming in now, Doctor."

"Come in." Akashi commanded. Soon after, the door opened, revealing the man from yesterday. Unlike then, however, he appeared to be calm.

"Good morning, Doctor." He greeted hoarsely.

"Good morning to you too. Please have a seat." Akashi motioned to the chair across from him. Despite yesterday's events, he played the role of the impartial and amicable doctor perfectly, looking entirely at ease. The male sat down timidly. "After examining the results of the tests, I have confirmed that you have a disorder called Adrenal Cushing's Syndrome."

"So what should I do then, Doctor?" The man asked with a hint of agitation.

"We can do a simple surgery." He pulled out a model of the kidneys. "If you look here, these are the adrenal glands."

"And?"

"Thankfully, only one adrenal gland has been affected, so you will not need to depend on steroids for the rest of your life. After this surgery, you will be hospitalized until we determine that you are fully recovered. That would take one to two days at most. A couple of follow-up checkups are recommended once you've recovered from the surgery, but you should be good as new."

"So if I get the surgery, I'll be okay then?"

"Yes. Your psychological disorder should also calm down as well since it was caused by Cushing's."

"Then I'll do it. How long do I need to wait?"

"If you talk to the nurse outside, we can most likely get it done within the day. Luckily, I have an opening today and an operation room is open then as well, so if it is convenient for you, we can do the surgery today."

"That's convenient for me too. I'll talk to the nurse then. Thank you." He stood up and bowed politely before exiting the room.

After a couple of minutes, Nurse Tanaka walked in. "The surgery is set at the time that you wanted it at for today."

"Thank you, Tanaka-san."

"Would you like me to inform Tsukishiro-sensei about the new surgery slot?"

He shook his head, giving the nurse a warm smile. "No, that's alright. I can tell her myself. Thank you for offering though, Tanaka-san."

* * *

Akashi strode across the hallways and checked the resting room only to find it empty. He quickly switched gears, immediately having decided on another destination when his piercing eyes landed on a fellow doctor who happened to be passing by. Akashi caught the other doctor's attention and greeted him politely before asking, "Did you happen to see Tsukishiro-sensei recently?"

"Ah, Tsukishiro-sensei? She was in the study room earlier, so she's probably still there. She's been there since the chaos in the ER."

"Oh…?" A mixture of exasperation and amusement tinged his voice then before he smiled pleasantly at the doctor. "Thank you."

"No problem!"

* * *

Just like the doctor said, Akashi found Reimi in a cubicle, surrounded by piles of textbooks and papers. Akashi arched an eyebrow elegantly as he asked neutrally, "I believe you told me that you were going to be in the resting room?"

"I changed my mind after you left. I can't calm down if I'm there alone. Would rather do something productive." She replied matter-of-factly without looking at him as she flipped through a textbook.

"We have a surgery added in for today."

"For the Adrenal Cushing's patient, right?"

"Yes. It'll be a simple surgical procedure, but I would like to review it once with you."

Turning her chair, she looked up at him. "Okay. Just give me a second so I can put everything back in its original spot." After he nodded his assent, she began carrying a pile of books to a shelf. The corner of his mouth turned upwards and his eyes glinted with amusement.

"I'll assist you," he declared. Before she could even process his sudden words, he effortlessly carried another pile of books to a different shelf. In just a couple of minutes, they managed to put away all the materials in their respective spots.

"That… was quite fast." She blinked at the shelves with a blank expression, looking as though she was still trying to process the fact that they were already finished. "Well, shall we head over to your office to review?"

He motioned for her to follow, which she did without complaint.

* * *

At the time of the surgery, the anesthesiologist put the patient to sleep while checking the BP. Both Akashi and Reimi scrubbed as they reviewed the procedure in their heads.

He turned towards her. "Are you ready?"

"Always." She entered the room after him and promptly took her place across from where he would be standing during the operation.

The nurse put on his gloves once he lifted the mask onto his face. He soon stood across from Reimi. "Then let us begin the Laparoscopic Adrenal Gland Removal, everyone." He took a breath before speaking once again. "Scalpel."

Akashi concentrated on the screen as his hands carefully held a certain instrument. The screen finally revealed the affected adrenal gland and in response, he announced clearly, "We will now begin removing the adrenal gland."

"It seems like the surgery will take little time." Reimi commented.

A heavy silence descended in the room as Akashi wielded the instrument in his hand with delicate precision. Several moments passed before he finally paused. "Got it."

He then began pulling out the instrument steadily, making no unnecessary movements as he did so. The moment everyone in the room could see the adrenal gland, the nurse walked over with a tray.

A few minutes passed as he smoothly removed the rest of the tool from the patient's body. "Suture."

His nimble fingers appeared to gracefully weave through the air as he closed the wound, making the procedure appear effortless. "How are the vitals?"

"All normal. The surgery is a success." Reimi reported when he finished up the last of the stitches.

"Good work, everyone." Akashi stepped back, allowing the nurses to move the patient out of the operation room. Without further interaction, he promptly exited the room in order to change back into his clothes, leaving Reimi in the room by herself.

She stood there for a moment, staring uselessly at the door, and pictured the way Akashi had appeared to her before he had left. "Was that relief… or pain? Or perhaps that was…?" She trailed off before dismissing her train of thought with a shake of her head.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep-_

Akashi lightly leaned against the wall after adjusting the medication for the Adrenal Cushing's Syndrome patient.

_Beep. Beep. Beep-_

"You'll be fine now." He murmured to the unconscious man. Despite Akashi appearing to be the epitome of calm, his voice betrayed a deep current of emotion he was carefully keeping under wraps.

"Akashi-kun." A voice flatly came from next to him.

"Kuroko." Akashi acknowledged the former phantom player with a tilt of his head.

"I heard that you just finished up the last surgery of the day." The pediatric nurse stood next to him as he trained his eyes on the patient as well.

"Yes. He's perfectly fine as you can see."

"Is…" The expressionless male paused, glancing at Akashi's side profile with his peripheral vision before deciding to proceed. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course," came Akashi's reply. It might have fooled someone else, but the strain in Akashi's voice was very apparent to the observant misdirection user.

"..." Kuroko faced him. "Do you actually like… No. Did you even want to become a doctor?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I always thought that you would go into business or if you had the chance, become a professional Shogi player." The blue in his eyes appeared to flicker in the dim light. "You don't need to stay as a doctor if you don't like being one. We all know that you can succeed in everything you do."

"Not in everything." Akashi said dryly with a tired smile, referring to his loss to Kuroko in the Rakuzan vs. Seirin match years ago. "I would have liked to become a professional Shogi player… if not for what happened…" At those last words, Akashi's eyes pooled with an emotion that caused a crack in Kuroko's mask then, which uncharacteristically went unnoticed by Akashi.

"There you are, Kuroko." Midorima entered the room with an irritated expression. "I was looking for you."

"Midorima-kun…" Kuroko greeted the green haired doctor, just barely managing to shove back old wounds that should've healed by now- _Akashi-kun… Why…-_ behind an empty slate. "I apologize. I didn't mean to wander off. We were talking about Harumi-chan, right?"

"At least, you didn't forget that. Now, let's head back to my office to discuss the operation in greater detail." Midorima shifted his glasses.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later then, Akashi-kun." Kuroko said quietly, receiving a nod from the former Rakuzan player before heading out.

Once Kuroko exited the room, Akashi slumped down onto a nearby stool and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and giving a long exhale.

"Long day?" Midorima inquired, opting to look out the window to give his friend some semblance of privacy.

"More than usual." Akashi opened his eyes to tiredly look out the window.

"I heard that you did a surgery for a Cushing's patient today. Did it remind you of…?"

"Perhaps..." Akashi closed his eyes, hiding whatever emotion surfaced at Midorima's unfinished question.

"I see… Well, try to get some rest later." Midorima placed a hand over Akashi's shoulder for a brief moment before walking out.

The moon shined brightly through the window, lighting up the dark room. Akashi opened his eyes, staring out into the starless night sky.

_Beep. Beep-_

In that moment, time seemed to slow down for the red haired surgeon, leaving him with a gaping silence.

_Beep-_

Everything reverted back to normal.

"When will everything come to an end…?"

He closed his eyes tiredly once more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BP stands for Blood Pressure.
> 
> BOLD ITALICS - Memory
> 
> [ITALICS] - Text Message

Reimi tugged at her sleeve. The chilly wind prickled her exposed skin as she began stretching out her arms to loosen her stiff muscles.

"Today was a long day…" She said out loud to herself. No one answered her but the shuffling of the leaves from the trees that surrounded her. The park was empty, just like how it should be at the time that she was heading home.

The lights flickered and the moon above shined brightly. She almost thought she could see the twinkling stars across the night sky but knew that it would be difficult since it was Tokyo.

She fiddled with the straps of her backpack, a little bored and miffed that she had to head back to her dorm room to catch some sleep. However, she enjoyed the quiet walk since it managed to always soothe away the stress she accumulated.

A sense of discontent washed over her when she reached the end of the park. Only a couple of feet to the right remained before she would arrive at her destination. Sighing to herself, she took a step when a loud screeching sound vibrated into the air. Her body immediately froze as she felt a familiar chill of icy horror go down her back.

_**A high-pitched scream bursted through her phone.** _

The car flipped over a short distance away. She flinched at the suddenness of the situation.

" _ **NO!"**_

Beads of cold sweat formed on her forehead. Her hands shook as the stiffness in her limbs worsened.

" _ **IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"**_

She soon forced herself to run towards the car and call 119 on her phone to request for the paramedics. "Where…?" She pulled down at her sleeve while looking for the victim.

At the side of the car, an older man groaned as he climbed out of the car with a thump. Blood stained his clothes messily.

_**Reimi sat there helplessly as blood tainted her vision.** _

Gathering herself, she helped move the man before examining his injuries. "The ambulance is coming soon, so try to stay awake to the best of your ability."

"Who…?"

"I'm a doctor. Don't worry. I'll definitely save you." She threw her bag down and took out the first-aid. "Try not to move." Pressing slightly against his fingers, she asked. "Do you feel this?"

"Yes." He grimaced.

Taking out her phone again, she swiftly plugged in a pair of earphones into it and placed one earbud in her ear, dialing Akashi's number at the same time.

" _Yes?"_ At Akashi's voice, Reimi placed her phone into her pocket to keep it out of the way.

"Akashi-sensei. I called the ambulance but considering that our hospital is the closest, I will report everything to you right now, so prepare an operation room accordingly."

" _What happened?"_

"There was a car accident. The patient is a young man, probably in his twenties. He is still conscious and can feel the pressure on his fingers when I tested them."

"Doctor, Doctor, I-" The male began to hyperventilate.

"He's hyperventilating..." She cupped his mouth. "If you can hear me, you need to try your best to breathe slowly."

At her command, he followed the rhythm of her slow counting. "Good, you're doing a wonderful job. The paramedics will be here at any moment. You can do this. I believe in you."

The sirens of the ambulance blared loudly in the night. Her body stiffened.

" _ **Time of death. Approximately noon."**_

The man suddenly choked before going limp. Startled, she checked his breathing and heartbeat as the ambulance stopped near the accident site. When a paramedic emerged, she cried, "Hurry! We need to head to the hospital!"

" _What's happening, Tsukishiro-san?"_

She helped transfer the patient to the stretcher as she hovered over him, ripping his buttoned shirt. The paramedic inserted the tube smoothly and began pumping air. She placed her hands in position and began a series of chest compressions. "Try the medication-"

"It's not working, Doctor!" The paramedic tried another, but nothing was working. "I can't administer them intravenously!"

"One, two, three. One, two, three."

_**BEEEEEP-** _

"NO! I will save you. I won't let you die. Not anymore. Not again." She continued to do another series of chest compressions. "Akashi-sensei, I need you to prepare an intracardiac injection with a 22-gauge needle. We'll arrive in any minute now."

" _I just prepared it. We're only waiting for you now._ "

The ambulance came to a stop as the doors swung open, revealing Akashi. The paramedics brought the stretcher down as she continued the CPR procedure. Grabbing the injection from Akashi when he approached her, she swiftly inserted it between the ribs of the patient without any sign of hesitation before removing it smoothly. "I will save you. I won't let you die."

_**Beep, beep, beep, beep-** _

The voices of the doctors and nurses faded away.

" _ **Rei-chan~!"**_

The intensity of her concentration was apparent as she focused solely on the heart of the person she desperately wanted to save. "I won't let you die. I'll save you. I promised that I would." Her whispers echoed in the depths of her mind.

With Reimi's unconscious whispers over the phone and in person echoing in his mind, Akashi swiftly proceeded to the operation room with only thoughts of the operation ahead, leaving behind the image of Reimi's stricken face at the doors of the ER.

* * *

"Is everyone ready?" Reimi confirmed with the rest of the team members. Akashi waited for her orders as she exhaled deeply before speaking. "Then let us get started. Scalpel."

Akashi watched the scalpel glide as the skin opened up. Blood began pouring out of the wound.

"Suction." He meticulously handled the blood to give her room to see the wound clearly. "Cloth." Placing it over the areas surrounding the wound, he waited for her next move.

"You just need to look for the wound now. According to the scans, the hemorrhage is located near the pulmonary arteries."

Without giving a reply, she concentrated intensely on the beating heart. Minutes of tense silence passed by.

"Tsukishiro-sensei! BP is starting to drop! 87, 85, 82-"

"Start pumping the blood!" Reimi commanded. Her fingers carefully touched the heart as she searched for the source of the main injury. She paused for a moment.

"Suction and cloth." At her words, Akashi immediately drained the blood around the area where her fingers were in contact with the heart.

"Suture." With great speed, she swiftly repaired the bleeding vein.

The nurse exclaimed with relief obvious in her voice. "BP is stabilizing!"

"Then let's continue with the rest now." Everyone nodded in agreement to her words.

Due to fixing the main source of the hemorrhage first, the rest of the surgery finished smoothly with no serious issues. By the end of the surgery, she looked up at her main assistant. "Akashi-sensei. Finish the rest."

"Understood." He switched spots with her and proceeded to deftly suture.

"You really make suturing look pretty." Reimi commented briefly and focused on his work as if uninterested in his reply to her words.

"And you seem relieved."

"..." She continued to watch him finish up the rest of the suturing. "...Of course I am."

He glanced at her once he finished. "I thought you couldn't hear me."

She never replied to that statement. She instead stood there nonchalantly while the rest left the operation room with the patient.

"...They're alive and that's all that matters." She softly spoke to him before turning on her heel to walk out of the room.

As he watched her leave, he briefly wondered if she had been talking to him or to herself when she had said that. "Alive, huh…"

Once Reimi changed her clothes, she purposefully headed over to the Intensive Care Unit.

"Ah, Tsukishiro-sensei! Are you here to see the patient that you just operated on?" A nurse cheerfully asked.

"Yes. Can you direct me to his location?"

"Of course! Follow me."

"Oh… I don't want to bother you too much. You can just tell me the general direction."

"Last time we did that, you got lost. This is just to ensure that you make it there for sure."

"I see…" Reimi paused. "Thank you. I sincerely apologize for taking up your time though."

"Not a problem at all, Doctor!" After a few minutes of silence, they reached the patient's bed. "Here we are."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome! Just give us a shout if you need anything."

"Will do." The nurse finally walked away, giving her time alone with the unconscious patient.

She silently watched over the patient before attempting to speak. "I…"

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep-_

She swallowed hard and exhaled with careful control before continuing. "Thank you for being alive… Thank you…"

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep-_

The heaviness in her heart chipped away ever so slightly at the constant and energetic sound of the patient's life.

_Beep. Beep. Beep-_

"We're alive and…"

_Beep. Beep-_

"And that's all that matters now, right?"

_Beep-_

No one answered her, except for the sound of the heart rate monitor beeping. She closed her jade green eyes for a second before opening them and exited the area.

* * *

Reimi unlocked the door to her room, revealing an emptiness that made the room look bigger than it should have been. With only a mattress on the floor, two huge suitcases in a corner, and a desk with a chair, the place lacked personality as if it was a storage room instead.

"I'm home." No one answered. It was just as empty as she inwardly felt on a usual basis.

Tossing her bag on the floor, she slipped out of her shoes and headed to the shower room tiredly.

As warm water drenched her body, she stared at her appearance in the mirror with a blank expression, ignoring the soap clinging to her skin. Something clenched at her heart in that moment. Unable to bear it, she turned around and scrubbed at her short silver hair vigorously with shampoo in an attempt to chase that feeling away

Shutting her eyes, she soon let the water drain away the soap and shampoo. Using a small towel, she wiped her skin carefully before walking out of the shower. After patting on toner and slathering lotion on her skin, she started to feel very drowsy as she put on her clothes. Reimi then grabbed a new small towel and draped it over her head.

At the sight of her mattress, she quickly lay down on top of it with the towel still over her wet hair as she looked across at the top of her desk. In the center of it, there was a single picture frame that was placed face down.

"One… Two… Three… One… Two… Three…" She whispered to herself.

" _ **Rei-chan, wait for me!"**_

"One... Two..."

" _ **YOU KILLED HER!"**_

" _ **NO! No… Please… God…"**_

"I…"

" _ **One, two, three, one, two, three-"**_

" _ **Approximately noon."**_

"Alive… One…" She breathed onto the mattress, feeling the warmth of her own breath as a result. "One… Two… Three…"

" _ **Stop. You don't need to do it anymore."**_

"I...do…"

" _ **Time of death. Approximately noon."**_

"Two… Three…"

_**Reimi sat down lifelessly in a pool of sticky red blood. "I…"** _

_I killed her…_

Tears rolled down her cheeks until her consciousness faded into darkness.

* * *

_Ping._

"A message?" Midorima inquired as he watched his red-haired friend check his phone.

Akashi murmured to himself. "From Momoi."

Displeasure flashed in the green-haired male's eyes briefly.

_[Akashi-kun, I emailed you the document that you requested from me. Hope it helps! - Momoi]_

Akashi sent in his reply of gratitude before placing his phone back into his pocket. Having noticed Midorima's reaction earlier, Akashi asked neutrally, "Midorima, do you want to stop me?"

"While I disapprove, I will respect your decision. I personally feel that it is a foolish action for you to take." Midorima shifted his glasses a little, causing light to reflect off the lenses briefly.

"Understandable." Akashi swirled the cup in his hand, watching the liquid move inside. "Just don't tell Kuroko."

"About Momoi sending you information?"

The red-haired male closed his eyes. "Yes. Unfortunately, he has a tendency to worry too much."

Midorima shook his head. "You seem to forget that I do not get along well with Kuroko since he is an Aquarius. After all, Cancers like me do not mix well with them."

Akashi chuckled in response. "Of course. Well, I'm going to do my rounds now. I'll see you later." Without waiting for a reply, he exited the resting room.

After a beat of silence, Midorima pulled out his phone and texted Kuroko.

[ _A.M.D.R. Advanced. The angel arrived._ ]

_Ping!_

_[Put a stop to it.]_

"Easier said than done, Kuroko. And that is exactly why we do not get along because I can already see the end result. Unless an unexpected factor enters the equation, there is no hope for a change in the end result." He sighed heavily to himself, replacing his phone into his pocket. "I, for one, intend to keep my word to Akashi as well after all."


	5. Chapter 5

Akashi groggily sat up from the bed after his nap. Looking at the time, it was still relatively early in the morning. "Monday…" It was the start of a new week.

Grabbing his coat, he headed out of the on-call room. As expected, not many people lurked in the hallways of the hospital at this time. With no one to bother him, he went straight to the ER and grabbed a chart to review. After all, there was still some time left before he had to go for his rounds.

Meanwhile, Midorima stood up from his chair and walked out of his office after determining that he needed a change in scenery. His feet unconsciously brought him to the ER.

"I suppose Akashi has time to spare before starting his rounds." He confirmed the time on his watch before entering. As expected, Akashi was looking over his charts. "Akashi."

"Midorima? What are you doing here so early in the ER?"

"I needed a change in scenery. I also wanted to bounce my ideas off of someone. Since you're not starting your rounds until a little later…"

"That's fine. What's the surgery this time?" Akashi set down the charts as he waited for Midorima to speak.

"Carotid endarterectomy for a stroke patient."

"CEA, huh…" They both wandered off into the ER as they heavily discussed the topic together.

"It's so rare to see both Akashi-sensei and Midorima-sensei together in the ER nowadays! I miss the days when we regularly saw them work together here…" One nurse swooned as she laid her head down on the counter she was sitting behind.

Another sighed with a dreamy look in her eyes. "To see Midorima-sensei's cool gaze. I must have been blessed today… I want to be pierced by those eyes..."

"What are you talking about? Akashi-sensei's beautiful warm smile heals and soothes my very soul…" A nurse walked up to them with a convinced expression as she held her hands to her heart.

One bubbly nurse excitedly pointed out. "Rather than that, I really want to see the  _chic_ and  _easy-going_  Tsukishiro-sensei meet the  _eccentric_  and  _cool_  Midorima-sensei. Wouldn't that be super entertaining?"

All three thought about it carefully before simultaneously agreeing. "That would be quite fun to watch…"

Reimi suddenly popped up from behind them, causing them to yelp in surprise. "Watch what?" She quirked an eyebrow at the group of gossiping nurses who laughed awkwardly to themselves.

The bubbly nurse paid no attention to her fellow co-workers. "Tsukishiro-sensei, have you met Midorima-sensei before?"

"No. Should I meet him, Awa-san?" Reimi grabbed her chart to prepare for her rounds.

"Yes!" Nurse Awa took the chart away from Reimi's hands and swiftly pulled her towards the two talking doctors. "Midorima-sensei~!"

"Hm?" The tall male turned his head towards the two.

"I would like you to meet one of the newest additions to the ER department, Tsukishiro Reimi-sensei!"

"It was only a month ago since I was placed here…" Reimi muttered to herself. "Nice to meet you." She stared at the male blankly.

He also stared at her blankly. "Midorima Shintarou. Neurosurgeon."

"Vascular surgeon and trauma surgery specialist." After that, the two continued to analyze each other's worth silently.

"Part of S.A.D.?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes. How-" She murmured before pausing.

"Hm..." His eyes answered it all.

"Ah…" She nodded in realization. "Then you know-"

"Yes." His voice held a hint of amusement.

"Number of years?"

"Two… Your age?" Curiosity permeated his being.

"Twenty nine." She answered without hesitation.

"Older." He confirmed.

"Yes." She nodded.

"And your sign?"

Her lips widened into a small smirk. "Gemini. And yours?"

"Cancer." He also smirked.

She tapped her arm with her hand repetitively. "Not bad. Your MBTI?"

"INTJ. And yours?"

"Same."

"Hm… Not bad." He pushed his glasses up at the bridge with his finger.

With a questioning gaze, she asked. "Do you think-"

"Yes." He interrupted.

"A shame." A look of amusement flickered in her green eyes.

"Indeed." He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.

"So what is your lucky item today?"

He pulled out his lucky item from the pocket of his white coat. "Kerosuke. Do you want to know yours?"

"Sure."

"A blue handkerchief." He pointed out to her.

"Ah… Then it's a good thing I already carry that around with me." Midorima nodded in absolute agreement with her words. "I think we will get along swimmingly."

"Agreed."

"It really is a pleasure to meet a like-minded soul. I look forward to working with you in the future." She held out her hand.

"Agreed and the pleasure is mine as well." They shook hands, nodding in acknowledgement of their apparently satisfying strength and similarities in character.

"That was…" The nurse stared at the two surgeons. "That was not what I expected…"

"Like a mirror… It's a little creepy to meet-" Reimi pointed out.

He nodded his head. "It is, but at least, we-"

"Very true." She sighed. "Well, I'm going to check up on my patients now, so I'll see you someday again, Midorima-sensei."

Nodding in agreement, he then faced the amused red-headed surgeon that had been ignored. "I should go too. Sorry for taking up your time, Akashi."

Akashi held a firm smile. "Not a problem." As the two parted ways, Akashi then continued to check up on his patients while Reimi quickly dragged Nurse Awa with her to complete her own rounds.

However, both Reimi's and Akashi's rounds ended prematurely in just a couple of minutes.

" _Code S.A.D. I repeat. Code S.A.D. Tsukishiro-sensei. Akashi-sensei. Please head over to the helicopter pad immediately. Over."_ Both of their walkie-talkies buzzed loudly.

"Understood. Heading over now." Reimi dashed off in the direction of the helicopter pad. She almost slammed into Akashi when they were about to jump into the flying contraption.

He paused and locked eyes with her. "Ready?"

She nodded. "Always."

Akashi jumped aboard first before extending his hand to her. Quickly accepting his hand, she jumped on with his assistance. Sitting down, she put on headphones and adjusted the microphone attached. "Paramedics, please inform us of the current situation." The audio connection buzzed with new information from the paramedics. "We will arrive in approximately 86 seconds."

"During that time, please clear up the landing area so that the helicopter can land safely." Akashi calmly ordered.

" _Understood. We will do that immediately._ "

The pair looked out the window with heavy emotions pooling in their eyes as they counted down the seconds left until landing.


	6. Chapter 6

Akashi and Reimi jumped out of the helicopter and were immediately greeted with the sight of a demolished tunnel. According to the paramedics, there was an explosion inside that caused many to be trapped or injured badly. Thankfully, the rescue team responded very quickly, so they had been able to rescue a lot of the trapped people. They also managed to create a path for the paramedics and doctors.

"Doctor, please come over here!" A paramedic pulled Akashi to a patient. Their arm was crushed completely by debris. "They're losing so much blood."

"Sir. Can you hear me?" Akashi called out to the unconscious man. He checked the dilation of their eyes and the sound of their heartbeat. His eyes narrowed. "We might have to amputate his arm. He's losing too much blood and that's causing his heart to slow down a lot."

"A-amputate?" The paramedic cringed at those words. "I'll bring one of the rescue team members to amputate it cleanly."

"Thank you." He exhaled. "We'll need him operated on within the hour or else he might die from blood loss. Since his arm has been completely crushed with no sign of potential preservation, this patient will most likely have to get a prosthetic arm. Please let the hospital know."

"We'll send him to the hospital as our first priority then." The paramedic soon dashed off. During this time, Akashi began giving the unconscious male anesthesia, so that he would not feel the pain of his arm being cut off. "Doctor, we brought someone who could help us!"

"Can you chop his arm off where I indicate? You need to be able to do so quickly and accurately. A clean cut is what we're looking for." Akashi immediately asked the pale rescue team member before gesturing at the item in the man's hands. "We will need to disinfect your tool first though."

"O-of course…" The rescue team member handed it over to Akashi who proceeded to pour disinfectant on it.

"If you cannot do it, I will do it. I cannot allow my patient to die because of your fear. It is pertinent that we do this, is that understood?" Akashi solemnly held onto the tool, locking eyes with the other.

"I… I don't think I can do it then."

"In that case, I will." He exhaled and concentrated intensely on the arm, analyzing and reanalyzing where to cut. Finally, he raised his arms in the air, ready to swing. Without warning, he swung down swiftly and unflinchingly, successfully amputating the arm. Afterwards, with the help of the paramedic, they managed to take care of the patient without any serious complications. Once Akashi helped transfer the unconscious male into the paramedic's ambulance, he headed back into the tunnel for search for more patients to treat.

"Please help! Someone!" An older male's voice cried out from further down the tunnel. Running past Akashi, a female paramedic and a male rescue team member headed towards the source of the cry. He soon followed after.

* * *

"Please take care of her well. Make sure that you're careful with the bandage since her skin ripped off. Her revealed organs cannot be further exposed." Reimi murmured to the paramedics.

"Don't worry, Doctor! We'll definitely make sure that she's safe at the hospital!" The female smiled.

"Thank you. Then I will put her life in your hands." She patted the female paramedic on the back before heading back to the chaotic scene.

"Is there anyone else in need of medical attention?" Reimi asked a male paramedic.

"I don't think so. The red-haired doctor is getting the last patient." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Good work for today, Doctor."

Not one for prolonged physical contact, especially from the opposite gender, she stiffened and casually moved away. "I think I'll go check on Akashi-sensei." Without waiting for him to reply, she began walking towards the path.

By the time she reached the entrance of the paved way, the tunnel suddenly shook violently.

"WATCH OUT!" A rescue team member grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the side as debris came crashing down on the spot where she had been standing mere seconds ago.

Reimi grunted before standing up. The moment she lifted herself up with her left arm, she winced at the instant pain that shot through her shoulder. With great relief, she noticed that there was no blood. However, it meant that she had dislocated her shoulder during her fall. "What a pain." Taking out the walkie-talkie, she tried to connect to Akashi's. "Akashi-sensei, can you hear me?"

A zapping noise could be heard, but no response came from the other end.

"Akashi-sensei, you've been trapped inside the tunnel, but the rescue team is currently trying to pave a way for you guys." She still could not hear anything. "If you can hear me, then please make a noise…"

This time, she heard white noise.

"Doctor, did you dislocate your shoulder?" The male paramedic from earlier asked.

"Yes, but I'll take care of it later." She ignored him while focusing on the walkie-talkie.

However, before she could comprehend what was happening, the male paramedic had manhandled her onto the floor. "I know how to reset it since I did it a lot before I was a paramedic."

"Wait-"

He did it in one swift motion. She grunted with displeasure from the male's unexpected action and clenched her teeth from the resulting pain. After wrapping her arm and putting it in a sling, she muttered a word of thanks before stalking off, clearly in a bad mood.

* * *

Akashi heard the sound of falling debris coming from the direction of the entrance. The light provided from outside immediately disappeared, leaving them with only a rescue team member's helmet and a paramedic's flashlight as their main light source. "It seems that we have been trapped…" He concluded to himself, speaking aloud for the other two's benefit.

The walkie-talkie crackled with the sound of Reimi's voice.

"Tsukishiro-sensei, I can hear you. Can you hear me?" White noise came from the walkie-talkie. "It cut off."

"Then we're stuck here until the rescue team finishes paving the way for us." The female paramedic sighed.

"It should only take around thirty minutes. Not too bad in my opinion." The male rescue team member pointed out.

"Could you both turn your lights towards the patient? I need to check on his condition." Akashi motioned to the quiet patient.

"Sure." They both leaned down over the patient with their lights.

Akashi examined the man carefully before indicating at the paramedic to start the intubation. "He's having hard time breathing." As he put on his stethoscope to listen to the heartbeat, the paramedic swiftly inserted the tube and then began the process of pumping the air into the man. "Something's wrong…" Akashi murmured to himself, frowning in the process.

The paramedic looked up at Akashi questioningly while maintaining her flashlight towards the patient.

"What… What is it?" The male rescue team member glanced at the other two.

Akashi pulled up the shirt of the patient and tapped the top of the patient's skin while concentrating on any abnormalities through his stethoscope. "He has tension pneumothorax. Help me place him in the lateral recumbent position." After the two assisted with moving the patient onto his side, Akashi placed several towels around the area and prepped said area for incision after putting on some latex gloves. Grabbing a fourteen gauge angiocatheter, he quickly inserted the needle just above the rib, perpendicular to the skin, without pausing. As a result, a distinct rush of air could be heard. Once he removed the needle, leaving only the catheter in place, he secured it to prevent any dislodgement. Akashi then reexamined the patient before exhaling in relief. He continued the resuscitation without any problems. "Let's begin the tube thoracostomy."

"Here is the tube." The paramedic handed it to him.

From his own pack, Akashi spread the skin with topical antiseptic and draped the area using the sterile technique. Once he finished anesthetizing the skin and pleura, he handed both a Kelly clamp and chest tube to the female paramedic. "Hand it to me when I ask for it."

"Understood."

Akashi took out a scalpel and decisively made a three centimeter incision over the sixth rib surface and down into the subcutaneous tissue. "Kelly clamp." She handed it to him while he passed over the scalpel to her. He proceeded to dissect with the clamp until it created a track that extended over the top of the rib and into the intercostal space. Once he reached the pleura, he held the closed Kelly clamp and punctured through the pleura. Akashi stuck his index finger into the hole while taking out the clamp. He then confirmed the location before using the clamp to insert the tube appropriately. Adjusting and securing the catheter tube, he smiled reassuringly when the one-way valve began regulating the pressure inside the chest. He checked once more with the stethoscope before examining the other areas of the patient in case of any irregularities.

* * *

"Why can't I hear him at all?!" Reimi growled in displeasure as she glared at her walkie-talkie. The male paramedic stood by her in silence. Instantly, the tunnel began to rumble. "Wha-"

A high-pitched scream, too low to come from a female, cut through the air from her walkie-talkie. At the same second, part of the tunnel came crashing down. Fear seized her heart. "Akashi-sensei!" She breathed out as she tried to dash for the entrance of the tunnel when the paramedic from earlier grabbed her arm.

"It's still too dangerous to head over there! You'll be safer here." He refused to relent his hold on her.

"Shut up, so do me a favor and let go of me." Having reached the end of her patience, Reimi snarled at him. He flinched and released her. She dusted off her coat, putting her walkie-talkie back into her coat pocket in the process, before her hands soon curled into tight fists.

* * *

"Are you okay, Doctor?" The male rescue team member asked Akashi.

"It wasn't too heavy, so I was able to stop it from hitting the patient." He grunted in response as the male threw debris to the side. Akashi quickly grabbed his arm in order to examine the damage he had sustained before a momentary look of displeasure crossed his face. Pain shot through his arm as blood dripped from the wound he had just received courtesy of fallen debris. He controlled his breathing, taking in even breaths as he masked the pain he was currently feeling. "How long do you think they will take?"

"Any minute now. No worries, Doctor!" The only other male smiled reassuringly at Akashi.

"I can't wait to get out of this tunnel…" The female paramedic muttered to herself.

After a few minutes of tense silence, the rescue team announced that they had successfully removed the fallen debris, reopening the pathway. Reimi ran towards the entrance once more. Relief pooled in her eyes when she spotted familiar figures coming out of the tunnel.

Akashi clutched his injured arm while the paramedic continued to pump air for the patient. The female rescue team member who had been trapped with those two was accompanied by another member who had headed into the tunnel as soon as it reopened in order to assist her with carrying out the patient on a stretcher. Meanwhile, Reimi approached Akashi. "The others were sent to the nearest hospital. We can take this one."

"Alright. Let's go." They entered the helicopter, informing the ER of their situation.

" _I heard that both of you are injured. I will take care of the surgery for that patient with Yamada-sensei, so the head nurse will take care of your injuries when you arrive. Understood?_ " Masuda-sensei ordered them through the radio.

"But-" Reimi started to object.

" _Understood?_ "

"Yes, sir." She sighed.

" _And Akashi-sensei?_ "

"Yes, sir." He murmured into the microphone.

" _Good._ "

When they reached the ER, the head nurse motioned for the two doctors to follow her.

"Let me first see your right arm, Akashi-sensei." She pointed at the chair for him to sit on when they entered the small room. He quickly obeyed and lifted his injured arm for her to examine. "It seems like we'll have to stitch it."

"I heard the two are injured! Are they okay?" Moku-sensei barged in with a stricken expression.

"Ah, Moku-sensei. Good timing. Will you stitch Akashi-sensei's wound for me? I need to check on Tsukishiro-sensei now."

"What? Oh. Of-of course." Moku-sensei immediately pulled out some anesthesia and suturing tools from the cabinets. Grabbing a chair, he promptly sat on it and faced Akashi, beginning the stitching in an almost automatic motion.

"Tsukishiro-sensei, it looks like you dislocated your shoulder."

"Yes. Did they fix it correctly?"

"It seems like they did it well. Who did it for you?"

"A paramedic." She muttered with mixed feelings.

"That's… That's surprising." The head nurse blinked. "Well, both injuries should take around two weeks to heal completely as you both already know. For now, I'll bring you two some painkillers."

"I'm done!" Moku-sensei exclaimed with a relieved smile.

"Good work, Moku-sensei. Now how about you finish your rounds for the day?" The nurse suggested as he turned red from embarrassment.

"Of course. Glad that you're both safe." He gave a last wave before exiting the room.

"Now then... You both should stay in here. I'll be right back with the medications." She also exited the room.

"..." Reimi cocked her head to the side as she watched Akashi thoughtfully. "Does it hurt?"

"It's nothing that I can't handle."

"That's good."

"Do you want an ice pack for your shoulder?" Akashi stood up, heading towards the mini fridge.

"That would be helpful." Reimi also stood up as she joined him in rummaging through the items until they found a pack. She pulled out a small cloth to wrap it in before placing it on her shoulder. "Thank you." She muttered under her breath as they both sat back down.

"You're welcome." He murmured to her. They faced the doorway silently. Reimi, however, continued her observation of her partner as if trying to figure him out. Her body almost stiffened from the tension of the pain and from the discomfort of her frustration towards herself.

"I'm back!" The voice of the head nurse cut through the tense atmosphere. Reimi relaxed minutely, sighing softly to herself in relief. "Here are your painkiller bottles. Please follow the directions and don't overdose. You know the drill."

"Of course. Thank you." Reimi answered as she grabbed the bottle.

"This is most appreciated." Akashi warmly smiled at the nurse as if nothing had happened. The two stood up as they slipped the bottles into the pocket of their coats. By the time they reached the open doorway, they bumped into each other lightly. "You can go first, Tsukishiro-san."

"No, you can go first, Akashi-sensei." Reimi smiled wryly at the male in an uncomfortable fashion.

"I'm fine. Ladies first."

"It's an equal society in this century. I insist that you go first."

Reimi's lips tightened in displeasure while Akashi's eyes narrowed with the same emotion. The nurse sighed at their antics. "Can you both just leave already? I need to go help Moku-sensei with his rounds."

Without warning, Reimi grabbed the back part of Akashi's white coat, using that to pivot him towards the doorway. She then gently pushed him from behind as he uncharacteristically stumbled out of the room. The moment his foot was out of the room, she swiftly walked out and left before he could say anything to her. He watched the tentative smile drop from her face as he stood near the entrance with a curious expression.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOLD ITALICS - Memory

Reimi sighed in her seat. Akashi glanced at her.

"I hate planes. They make me feel sick." Her skin looked paler than usual.

"Do you want some water?" He offered.

"No, it's fine. I took some motion sickness medication an hour ago. Wake me up when we arrive. I'm going to sleep." She closed her eyes before rubbing her side temples.

"Alright." He settled back into his seat, watching her lean against the wall of the plane. Her face held a constant frown, conveying to him the discomfort she was currently feeling.

It was only a two hour flight from Tokyo to Beppu, but clearly, Reimi was unable to handle even that short of a distance when it came to flights.

Akashi sighed inwardly as he recalled how the chief forced them to go to two conferences as the main representatives of their hospital. The one they were currently en route to was a week-long conference in Beppu and the next one was another week-long conference in Kanazawa. While he understood why they had to go, considering they were useless in the ER at the moment due to their injuries, it did not mean that he was pleased about this situation. He almost hated the fact that their injuries took around two to three weeks to heal completely. At the very least, he was not alone in these thoughts. He watched Reimi squirm in her seat again with an amused smile.

" _Good morning, everyone. My name is Kise Ryouta and I will be your pilot for this flight~ We will arrive at Beppu in approximately one hour and forty five minutes, so please keep your seatbelts fastened as you keep your eyes on the screen while the safety procedures are being shown. The air attendants will now check the cabin to ensure that we can take off in a few minutes~"_  A very familiar voice called out energetically over the intercom.

Akashi's eyebrow quirked in further amusement after which he then closed his eyes as if to catch up on sleep during the flight. He soon felt the plane move. The speed quickly increased as they headed upward into the air. Reimi grumbled to herself, which made him chuckle under his breath.

* * *

" _ **Will you take care of Tsukishiro-sensei over the next two weeks?" The department chief, Gosha You, asked Akashi with a serious gaze.**_

" _ **I am quite sure that she is capable of taking care of herself." Akashi replied matter-of-factly.**_

" _ **Professionally, she can take care of her own matters, but not when it comes to her own health. She has really bad habits. I just need you to keep her in check, especially since she isn't working during the conferences."**_

" _ **What kind of bad habits are you talking about?"**_

" _ **She tends to forget that she needs to sustain herself properly. She also has an annoyingly stubborn attitude, but for some reason, she seems to value your opinion enough that she isn't that stubborn around you. She doesn't sleep well, so she ends up staying up for far too long. She forgets the normal details of daily life. She tends to eat the same thing over and over again, even if it has no nutritional value. When she's busy, she usually eats the unhealthiest thing she can easily get her hands on. She is very directionally challenged, even if she has a map. I really need you to make sure she doesn't get lost." The chief rambled on and on with an aggravated expression. Akashi noted with slight amusement that he probably learned more about Reimi at this very moment than during the many days he had spent with her as her work partner.**_

" _ **I understand, Chief. You can stop now." Akashi's lips formed a tight smile, as if resigned to his fate.**_

" _ **Thank you, Akashi-kun." The chief smiled. "She respects you a lot, so she's definitely more likely to listen to you than me. Although do be careful when suggesting anything to her or when ordering her around… She can become even more difficult."**_

" _ **I will keep that in mind. Thank you for your warning."**_

_**The chief paused momentarily before continuing. "Even after… Take care of her for me, will you?"** _

_**Recognizing the implications of the chief's words, Akashi acquiesced, directing a reassuring smile at the chief. "Of course."** _

* * *

Akashi's thoughts were interrupted by the voice over the intercom. He turned towards Reimi.

"Tsukishiro-san. You need to wake up. We're about to land." He shook her shoulder, causing her to frown in response. She muttered gibberish as if refusing to wake up. Soon, she opened her eyes and sleepily stared at him with a blank expression. Reimi appeared to not recognize him as she continued to stare at him. Finally, recognition started to pool into her jade green eyes and she gave him a nod of acknowledgement. She rubbed her eyes and yawned in her hand before taking a sip of water from her water bottle. The two leaned back against their seats until the plane landed on the ground. As it headed towards the chosen gate terminal, they heard the familiar voice from the intercom once more.

" _We have landed in Beppu on time! The weather is perfectly clear and sunny. It's definitely a nice day to be out and about in the city~ Now, make sure to keep your seatbelts fastened until the light turns off! Also, until the air attendants indicate that it is safe to leave the plane, please stay in your seats~ We thank you for traveling with Japan Airlines and hope that you enjoyed your flight with us. Once again, thank you and have a great day~~_ "

Soon, the two grabbed their carry-on bags and trudged out of the terminal. "Do you have everything?" Akashi inquired as he assisted Reimi with picking her bag off the ground. She was still struggling with the sling for her left arm.

"I think so. I don't remember leaving anything in the pocket of the seat." She murmured to herself as she checked over her items.

" _Are_ ~ Akashicchi! You were flying with us!" A tall blonde haired male wearing a black blazer with four gold stripes on the arms of said blazer waved at Akashi energetically.

"What is that annoying thing waving at us?" Reimi blankly muttered under her breath.

"Ah… Well, it's someone I know." Akashi responded as the blonde approached the two.

"Akashicchi, I haven't seen you in ages!" The former Kaijou player greeted the red haired doctor with an excited grin.

"It has been a while, Kise." Akashi smiled warmly.

"Oh no, it's talking to you now." Reimi rubbed the space in between her eyebrows as she whispered to him. "I question your taste in friends." Akashi lightly chuckled at her words.

"So is she your girlfriend?" Kise motioned to the grumpy female.

"Does he have any brain cells or is he just lacking of it?" Reimi glared at the dense male. She inched further away from him.

"She's my partner and a very competent surgeon." Akashi introduced, appearing to be amused by the two judging by the slight smile on his face.

"Oh…?" The former small forward stared at her with a calculating gaze. In response, she returned his gaze ten-fold.

He soon smiled widely. "Kise Ryouta. Nice to meet you~"

"Tsukishiro Reimi." She answered with a stone face.

"Kise-kun! We need to go to the next flight!" One of the flight attendants called out to him.

"Ah, I'll be right there!" He yelled out with a grin. "Well, gotta go now! Bye, Akashicchi! Tsukishirocchi! Enjoy your stay in Beppu!" He then dashed off without waiting for a response.

"What is that abomination of a name he just called me now?" She grimaced. "No offense but I don't want him to lump me in the same category as you, Akashi-sensei."

"He only calls people that way if he respects them." Akashi explained.

"I feel sorry for his boss." She sighed, shaking her head. She then struggled with her bag before trotting off to the supposed exit. Akashi quickly latched onto her right arm which was holding her bag. "What…?"

"It's the other way."

"..." She minutely froze as silence permeated the air.

"To the exit." He further clarified.

Her ears and cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "Right." She then turned around and headed towards the correct direction this time, finally noticing and looking up at the signs on the walls.

"I can see why Gosha-sensei wanted me to check on her now…" He chuckled under his breath before following her.

* * *

Reimi typed furiously on her laptop. Her focus never wavered as her eyes scanned the information nonstop. When her energy fell drastically, she still made no move to do anything about it, fully immersed in absorbing the information before her. While her mind told her to go eat, her eagerness to learn overrode everything else. It was not until she literally felt dizzy that she grabbed an energy bar from her bag. Chewing and swallowing the bar in less than a minute, it managed to keep her from fainting. She was about to take out another bar when she heard Akashi's voice calling out her name. "Come in." She said without turning her head to greet him. All she heard next was the door to the room sliding open.

"Is that an energy bar?" His voice sounded entertained.

"Problem?"

He ignored her question. "Are you going to keep eating those until you have energy again?"

"...Yes." She was slightly miffed by his question.

"Do you normally do this?"

"..." Reimi did not know how to answer his question because she quite frankly did not know if she really did this on a regular basis. No one kept track of her, except for her older sister, so she never bothered to think about it. "I don't know."

"There are many disadvantages than advantages to eating those energy bars continuously, as you're well aware… Eating a meal would be a far more effective long-term plan, no?" He carefully worded. "I'm about to head to dinner if you'd like to join me."

She stopped typing. Finally looking up at him, she noticed the soothing light blue color of his yukata. The random thought of how aesthetically pleasing he looked in it briefly crossed her mind before she answered him. "That is acceptable. I'll be ready in five minutes. Just need to type this before I forget."

He heard the dismissal from her without her explicitly saying it out loud, so he gave a small noise of understanding before leaving the room. She finished typing and then scanned the report one last time. Within seconds, she closed the laptop, stored it in her bag, and then fixed her yukata. Sliding the door open, she found Akashi leaning against the wall with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Let's go." She motioned for him to lead the way, which he gladly did. As the two walked in silence, she examined the comfortable ryokan, from its smooth and wooden architecture to its detailed and delicate decorum. "Did you use their  _onsen_?"

"I did. You should try it." He answered.

"Not a fan of hot water, but perhaps I will after tomorrow's conference." Finally, they stood in front of another room. She raised her eyebrow at him. "A private dining room?"

"I thought you might dislike being around a lot of people. Reminds you of the job." He commented nonchalantly.

"I do dislike being around a lot of people, but not for the reason you gave." She murmured to him in a thankful tone. "It just gives me a headache when there are too many people. That's why I tend to avoid social events."

They entered the room and took their seats. Soon, an  _okami_  slid the door open as the ryokan workers proceeded to lay out two sets of fifteen different dishes of food on top of the table. Reimi's eyes sparkled a little when she spotted a bottle of hot  _nihonshu_. When the workers left the room, her hand reached out for the bottle. However, Akashi stopped her. "Let's try the food first."

She grumbled a little but did as he suggested. She took a bite of each dish, savoring the local flavors of the famous  _onsen_  city. After readjusting the ice pack on her left shoulder, she began to fully crave the slight bitter burn of alcohol. Without allowing Akashi the chance stop her, she quickly poured some in her  _ochoko_. While she clearly heard the chuckle from Akashi, she ignored the enjoyment he felt in regards to her actions and sipped her alcoholic drink. The burn was slight but it was perfect in resetting her taste buds. However, her cheeks and neck already began glowing red.

As the two ate, she noted how Akashi avoided eating wakame and any other type of seaweed. Feeling like it was a waste, she took and ate the seaweed for herself. Akashi never said a word to her about her actions. When she finally took his untouched pickled ginger since he always pushed it to the side of his plate, he looked at her dishes.

From his brief examination, he easily concluded that Reimi avoided eating raw bell peppers, carrots, and cabbage. His suspicions were confirmed when she cringed a little in response to those food items. He decisively took them from her plate, eating them for her. She glanced at him in surprise before returning her attention to her food while he watched her with entertained eyes.

Once they realized that the other would consume the items they hated, they placed the food on an already empty plate for the other to have easier access to it.

The dinner continued in that pattern with Akashi observing her with amusement and Reimi enjoying her alcohol and local specialty food. When it was over, she rubbed her stomach. "I ate too much." Exhaustion and sleepiness pooled into her jade green eyes.

"Let's head back then." Akashi suggested as they both exited the room. Without her really realizing it, she grabbed ahold of the sleeve of his yukata with her right hand, allowing him to lead them back to their rooms. He almost paused mid-step, contemplating whether to pinpoint her actions or not, but he continued onwards without further comment when he noticed the series of yawning coming from her.

The moment he wished her a good night, her forehead leaned against the arm that she had been latching onto. "Tsukishiro-san?" She said nothing but continued to lean against him as if she was frozen. Her breathing turned shallow and slow. When he caught a glimpse of her closed eyes in between the silver strands of her bangs, he observed how long and thin her eyelashes were before dismissing the thought. "Tsukishiro-san, you need to go to sleep."

"Mm…" She made a small noncommittal noise. He wondered if she was complaining about having to sleep, recalling that she doesn't sleep well according to Gosha-buchou.

His lips turned upwards. "You can't sleep standing up." While he said such words, he made no big effort to push her away. Instead, he found it rare to see her so  _attached_  - if that was even the correct word to use in this situation - to him, even if she was not drunk. After all, she was clearly only a bit buzzed and very sleepy.

A light giggle suddenly bubbled out of her mouth as she finally let go his arm, making his own arm feel a little cold. Her next course of action involved something along the lines of sliding the door open in a dramatic fashion. "Maybe she's a little tipsy." He corrected himself quietly.

Her relaxed and easygoing manner soon caused him to chuckle out loud. At the sound of his laughter, she swiftly turned on her heel to face him with a contemplative gaze.

In seconds, she crossed the distance between them. Without warning, she grabbed his shoulders and took a step forward until they were facing each other eye to eye, breaking the distance that she had implicitly set between them from the very beginning of their work partnership.

The two were close enough that Akashi could feel the warmth radiating from her body. Her cheeks were heavily stained with red due to the alcohol and her jade green eyes focused in on him. He stood still. Though he appeared to be outwardly relaxed, he looked at her straight in the eye, waiting for her to speak.

"..." Her face expression turned serious. "...Akashi-sensei."

He patiently waited for her to continue, showing that she had his attention.

"You're funny." Those words cut through his thoughts like a knife, catching him off guard.

"..." Uncharacteristically, his mouth hung open a little before he closed it. He was speechless.

"You intrigue me." Her awed tone then instantly shifted to one of warning. "Don't intrigue me. It's dangerous." When she received no reply, she continued. "Don't make me curious. If you do, it'll only make me cross the line." Her eyes narrowed. "We can't have  _things_  like emotions and hormones to ruin our work partnership. Surely you understand this?" Her disdain of emotions as a whole was obvious from her tone of voice.

He did not reply. His eyes flickered of  _something,_  but it quickly disappeared before she could recognize it.

She sighed deeply and took a step away from him. "But I understand that this problem lies with me, so I shall do my best to get rid of my curiosity and hopefully squander anything that tries to go past the line we set."

Satisfied with her own answer, her shoulder relaxed and she brightly smiled at him in a free-spirited manner, catching Akashi off guard again. She skipped to her door after giving him a short wave to indicate that she wished him a good night.

Before she could close the door, however, Akashi reached out and grabbed her free wrist, forcing her to face him again. Her eyes widened in surprise when she found herself extremely close to him in proximity. Her heart lurched abruptly from shock. Remembering to breathe again, she focused on the yukata that Akashi was wearing and then proceeded to look up.

She instantly regretted her decision.

His maroon eyes concentrated on her, calculating, analyzing, and observing the essence of  _her_. It disconcerted her a little. A tiny voice from the back of her mind warned her, telling her to back away from this man  _now_.

She couldn't move.

"Why did you act strangely after the S.A.D.?"

"..." She furrowed her eyebrows. She could not understand how she could express her dilemma to him without him possibly misunderstanding her. Her mouth, on the other hand, had other ideas. "I care for you."

He waited but she said nothing else. Her shock towards her own words was apparent on her face. When she recovered from her realization, she continued. "I shouldn't  _care_  for  _you_ of all people. You're just my work partner. As long as you get your work done as my partner, then that's all that matters. I shouldn't have to  _personally_  care about you just because we're partners."

She glared at the hems of his yukata before losing all of her energy. Her shoulders slumped lifelessly. "But I thought you  _died_  or at least got terribly injured in that tunnel. I thought that… I thought that I... let  _another person that I cared for_  die under my watch."

She visibly shivered.

Unconsciously, she tightly grabbed Akashi's arm with her right hand as if making sure that he was actually alive and wasn't an illusion. She took a deep breath to calm herself. The warmth radiating from his body soon comforted her.

"It's not an everyday occurrence for me to realize that I care for another human being, especially when they're male." She then took a step back, releasing her hold on his arm. "Does that answer your question?"

He nodded with a satisfied expression. She noted that there was  _something else_  in the depth of his eyes, but for her own sanity, she decided to ignore it. It was then that she realized that her tipsiness and mood changes were fading away as she talked to him more.

It was simply unpleasant to realize how much of a loose talker she was after consuming alcohol. It only served to remind her that she was not allowed to drink with other people, except with her older sister. "Is that all that you wished to ask me, Akashi-sensei?"

"For now."

She noticed his choice of words with displeasure. That only meant trouble and trouble was something she desperately wanted to avoid in a world full of chaos. She hoped in the back of her mind that her work partner would never become interested in her in any way because it would only make it harder for her to lose interest in him if he was curious about her.

She locked eyes with him, searching for any signs of anything she considered to be  _bad._  Fortunately, she found nothing but his usual normalcy in the depths of his maroon eyes. It meant that nothing had changed. She inwardly sighed with relief. "Well, good night then."

"Good night." He voiced out. The moment she turned her back on him, the normalcy that he used as a shield broke down, allowing his true feelings and thoughts pool into his eyes as he watched her close the door behind her. He stood there in silence for a few minutes, lost in his own thoughts, before going back to his own room.

* * *

Standing in the middle of her room, she stared at the futon. After that disconcerting conversation, she strongly felt the need to examine and analyze her memories of it.

Realizing that she was not going to get any sleep again, she sat down and instead went on her laptop to continue with her previous work. Once in a while, she thought about the conversation she had with Akashi before acknowledging how stupid she was acting at the moment. She would then skim through the reports and start typing again. It was an endless cycle that lasted until she passed out on her futon in the middle of the dark night.

When she woke up early the next morning after sleeping for only a couple of hours, she was dead tired once more. Nothing seemed to change that aspect in the morning whenever she wasn't working at the emergency room.

"I hate myself." She said out loud.

She then screamed obscenities into her pillow before turning her head again.

"Why did I say such things…? Why am I so stupid…? Why am I so loose lipped after drinking…? Ugh..." She pulled the blankets over her head again. "I hate myself."

After a long moment of silence, Reimi threw the blanket to the side, staring at the ceiling.

She chastised herself. "There is a time for everything, Tsukishiro Reimi. You obviously lack all of that when you drink a little bit of alcohol."

This time, she hit her head against her pillow a few times before slumping like a dead log.

"I need more sleep." She commented for the last time.


	8. Chapter 8

As the speaker introduced their topic, Reimi fidgeted in her seat. She poked at her food absentmindedly and her eyes slowly emptied into a dull green. It was as if she was seeing through the speaker.

"Tsukishiro-san."

"Hmm?" She turned towards Akashi with a blank look. She momentarily recalled the awkward silence that drowned them during their walk to the conference building in the morning.

"You should stop destroying your food."

Reimi looked down at her plate. The meat was shredded into tiny pieces. "Oh." She pushed them to the side and began poking at her vegetables.

"Why don't you eat them?"

"It's…" Her eyes narrowed, further emphasizing how tired she appeared. He noted the slight red in her eyes and dark bags under her eyes. Exhaustion seeped from her body posture. "It's too strong. I don't like it. Makes it hard for me to digest it."

Akashi took a small bite of his own food, which was lighter in flavor. He paused as he watched her not eat a single food on her plate. Instead, she drank water and fiddled with the pamphlet. He thought for a minute about how her sleeping patterns were affecting her eating habits. With this in mind, he grabbed her plate and silently switched it with his own. She stared at him with a startled expression. "This is lighter. Eat it. You need to nourish yourself."

She was about to protest. "But-"

"I feel like eating this one, so it all works out." He ended the conversation as he ate the food on her plate. Reimi hesitated before trying the food on his plate. The stiffness in her shoulders instantly lessened as a relaxed smile graced her lips. He watched her body sway a little as if she was privately listening to some music. Bliss pooled into her jade green eyes. Her good mood was obvious. In minutes, she finished everything on his plate. Akashi smiled a little at her antics as he continued to eat.

* * *

Once the speaker finished his presentation, everyone stood up to mingle with one another.

Reimi immediately wandered off to find one of her mentors from the previous hospital that she had worked at. After all, when her mentor found out that she was going to attend one of the conferences that he was going to, he was adamant about seeing her again so that they could catch up on everything that had happened so far. Since she enjoyed conversing with this particular mentor, she had agreed happily. The moment she found him, they laughed jovially at first sight.

Akashi stood there out of place for a mere second before beginning to smoothly introduce himself to the other attendees. He appeared to be in his element. He knew no one at the conference, except for his partner, but understood that he should spend his time making connections with the other doctors in order to further his network of people.

Time passed by quickly until he was forced into a conversation with a persistent female doctor. As she batted her eyelashes at him, he wondered why he was there in the first place. "Akashi-sensei… So you're a doctor from Tokyo. Must be talented at your job." She stepped into his personal space. It made him minutely stiffen in discomfort. He gracefully took a step back, making the move seem so natural that she didn't notice.

"That would be the same for everyone else in this room." He merely commented with a charming polite smile.

"My, so humble." She blushed. "Not only are you quite handsome, but your personality is wonderful. The people at the hospital are blessed to have someone like you on board." Her flattering began to remind him of the many people he had encountered simply for being an Akashi in the past. His eyes chilled while his smile became fixed. The mask came on as easily as breathing air.

"I am blessed to work at a hospital filled with skillful staff members." He paused, conjuring an unsaid opinion on another section of the hospital in his mind that headed in a totally different trajectory to his spoken words.

"If everyone is so skillful over there, then perhaps you might have time to guide me around Tokyo when I visit…?" She suggested with hope glistening in her eyes.

His lips tightened in annoyance but he maintained his facade. "I work in the ER. There is no time for other things." He took another step back, glancing at a chatty Reimi a short distance away before facing the female doctor again. "Considering that I find my job fulfilling enough, I believe there is no room in my life for anything or anyone  _new_  for that matter."

"But-"

"Akashi-sensei." Reimi swiftly intervened. She frowned at the female doctor.

Hearing her familiar voice somehow allowed his mask to turn a little more genuine. "Tsukishiro-san."

"And this is…?" The female doctor looked at Akashi for an answer.

Without allowing Akashi to reply, Reimi coldly stared at the female and took a step into her personal space. "You can ask me... Or are you merely incapable of doing so yourself?"

"I…" She spluttered.

"My name is Tsukishiro Reimi. And if that doesn't ring a bell, I don't know what will. I unfortunately recognize your face and the worthless memories that come along with it. However, considering that I don't remember your name, your existence is probably not worth storing inside my brain." Reimi snorted at her face. "I seriously had the most unpleasant experience working with you that one time."

The doctor took a step back. "I… I don't…"

"Of course. You don't remember." Reimi glared at her. She flinched. "You ruined my somewhat good day, so leave before you incur my wrath."

The female looked up to Akashi for comfort, but he just merely watched the interaction between the two with a neutral expression. Realizing that he was not going to be on her side, she became subdued and timid. "I understand. I apologize for ruining your day. I'll do my best to remember your name this time…"

"I don't need you to remember my name." Reimi's tone turned viciously cold. "Just remember the day we met for the first time and we'll see if you even have the confidence and pride to look at me in the eyes again if we ever meet in the future." Reimi sneered. She really was not in a content mood.

The doctor's posture straightened at her words and uncertainty pooled into her eyes. "Of course. I shall take my leave now. I apologize for taking up your time, Akashi-sensei. Tsukishiro-sensei." Immediately afterwards, she dashed off to the other side of the room.

"Was there a need to scare her off like that?" Akashi asked despite the amusement in his voice. Reimi stood there next to him with a childishly satisfied grin.

"You were uncomfortable around her. The most effective way to stop her from interacting with you any further is to scare her off so I decided to take on that role since you looked like you needed an ally." She shrugged.

"An ally?"

She smirked. "The people who know me here would take my side. Quite honestly, she probably would've bursted into tears if that happened. I went easy on her."

"Really…?" He did not believe her. She laughed.

"Obviously it's not just because you were uncomfortable around her... I mean that's part of the reason, but it was mostly because of what happened when we first met." Her eyebrows furrowed as if it was unbearable to recall such useless memories.

"Do I want to know…?" He raised his eyebrow.

"No, you really don't." She shook her head in dismay.

After a few people came by to converse with the two, her shoulders slumped. "I'm going back. I'm tired." Her eyes once again reflected annoyance and sleepiness. "No energy. Need to recover." The moment she finished saying those words, she dragged her feet towards the exit without waiting for him.

Akashi chuckled under his breath as he quickly accompanied her. "Then I suppose I'll need to take you back."

She quirked her eyebrow at him. "Are you sure? Don't you want to meet more people?"

He shook his head. "I think I'm done for today." He then shot her an amused smile. "And if I let you go alone, you'll get lost again like at the airport which I cannot afford to let you do."

"...I'm not that bad. Maybe." She muttered to herself. "Then let's go back, take a dip in the onsen, and sleep well…" Her jade green eyes momentarily shimmered with energy. "To prepare for another day in Beppu!" Her energy then depleted as she frowned once more. "Let's go already."

Together, they exited the building with Akashi leading the way and Reimi holding onto his arm sleeve to stop herself from wandering off.

* * *

"So why are we here again?" Reimi asked Akashi, moving her legs in Umi Jigoku's footbath. She fidgeted with the small towel in her hand.

"You're not fond of hot water, so onsens are out of the question. Footbaths are the next best thing." He relaxed.

"I… I suppose I can agree with that." She murmured before lightly splashing his legs with the water. She grinned. He raised his eyebrow at her.

She looked at him innocently. "It was an accident." They both knew it was a lie.

With a neutral expression, he splashed her. The hems of her pants dripped wet and a part of her shirt also became wet. He laughed silently.

Thankfully, the water was not too hot, so it did not burn her, but her eyes flickered in slight displeasure and overwhelming mischief. She bumped his shoulder with hers aggressively in attempt to make him lose his balance but was met with an unmoving body. At Akashi's smirk, immediately realizing she had failed, she quickly slid to the other side of the footbath to save herself from any retaliation from him.

After they finished drying themselves off with a towel, they headed for the specialty shops. Akashi ordered  _kabosu_  citrus soft serve ice cream while Reimi ordered  _jigoku_  steam pudding.

With her spoon, she tried his ice cream when he told her to try it, but her face scrunched up once it was in her mouth before reverting back to her normal expression. "It's not bad and it's not that sweet, but it's still pretty sweet. I like the tartness of it though."

"I'm surprised you're eating the pudding though." He commented.

"It's a little less sweet, compared to the ice cream. If yours was a little less sweeter, I would have gotten it for myself though." She took a bite out of her pudding. "Do you want to try mine?"

Once he nodded in agreement, she stood up to grab another spoon when he abruptly snatched the spoon out of her hand. She looked at him questioningly, but he answered by using her spoon to take a bite out of her pudding. She sat back down. "How is it?"

"Not bad. I prefer my ice cream though." He handed her spoon back to her.

"Then it's a good thing that we don't like the same things." She took it from him and began eating her pudding again with the same spoon nonchalantly.

After they finished eating their desserts, they ordered some _jigoku mushi tamago_. Seemingly in a good mood, she chuckled under her breath all of a sudden. Akashi looked up at her questioningly. "I just thought how funny it would be if I used your head to crack the egg open. But then I realized that you would probably retaliate by doing the same thing to me."

He raised his eyebrow at her and cracked his egg to peel it. She then silently began peeling her own egg. The smell of the onsen from her peeled egg wafted through the air. Reimi smiled to herself as she consumed the bolder tasting egg. "This is good."

He murmured in agreement when he took a bite out of his own.

Akashi noted to himself that her posture indicated how relaxed she was at the moment, revealing to him that she was clearly comfortable around him now. He still had yet to determine whether that was a good thing or not.

* * *

"I thought you were going to sleep?" Akashi took a seat next to her in the empty lounge, glancing at the clock that indicated the late hour as Reimi continued to sip on her herbal tea and read through some of the cases on her laptop.

"I…" She paused. "I usually can't sleep well."

"Then why don't you take some sleeping pills?"

"I'm too sensitive to them." Her eyes flickered of sadness before it disappeared. "When my older sister comes over and sleeps with me, I usually sleep well. _Or_  if I make myself thoroughly exhausted, then that also helps me sleep."

"That doesn't sound too promising." He admitted to her.

She shrugged. "Honestly, I have a hard time sleeping at a new place, but once I get used to it, I can sleep relatively well. At least… To what I consider to be relatively well… which isn't up to normal people standards."

"This isn't the first time that you've been out here." He hinted.

"Akashi-sensei, while I commend your efforts in trying to force me to sleep by staying out here until I go back to my room, it's not that easy. I, for one, do not want to be the reason for your own lack of sleep, which is why I always pretended to go back to my room after an hour of staying out here with you." Reimi took another sip from her cup of tea.

"I suspected that was the case."

"Why did you come back out? You usually never come outside again when I go back to my room to 'sleep'." Her fingers stopped typing. "It's unusual." She looked up at him with interest. "You never deviated from the pattern we set after day one in Beppu."

"It's the last day in Beppu. I have a lot of things to think about." Akashi admitted to her.

"Hmm…" She began reading the cases again on her laptop before typing.

"Are you dreading tomorrow's flight to Kanazawa?" He suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence that fell upon them a couple of minutes ago.

She twitched. "No. I don't dread. I merely abhor it. Speaking of the flight, you should get some rest now, Akashi-sensei. I don't think it would make sense for you to lose sleep because of me."

He did not make a move to leave.

"At least one of us should be sane when we get there." She pointed out.

He still did not budge. His relaxed and unnaturally warm expression never changed.

"I sincerely hope to the heavens that we do not meet your  _disgustingly_ affectionate friend of yours at the airport tomorrow. If I do, I might puke or bash my head in. I'm not sure which one will come first." That finally made his lips twitch.

"We probably won't." He answered with mirth. "And even if we do, it would be mere coincidence."

She rolled her eyes. "If you say so."

He shook his head at her in complete amusement.

"You're as stubborn as a mule." Irritation seeped into her voice. "Can't you just go and do  _Akashi_  stuff? Such as sleeping?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. " _Akashi_  stuff…?"

"Not my finer moments I assure you, but you get my point. Go to sleep and leave me alone already, Akashi-sensei. I will not be going to sleep until a few hours later." She sighed, rubbing the spot in between her eyebrows. "It would make me feel a lot better and less guilty if you went to sleep now like a normal human being for both of our sakes."

"You're just as stubborn as I am." His maroon eyes softened a little. "I will go to sleep now if you wish. I just hope that-"

"I know. Just leave your bleeding heart if it's there for some poor sap who needs it. I'm not your patient and I won't ever be, so leave it be…" She sighed. "Unless you decide to make it a habit to sleep with me…not in  _that_  way obviously… I highly doubt I'll be able to sleep well, okay?" Frustration now bled into her voice.

He chuckled under his breath. "Of course." He finally stood up from his seat, watching her closely in great contemplation as if carefully considering her final words to him and the dilemma she faced with her insomnia. "Good night, Tsukishiro-san."

"Good night, Akashi-sensei." She never looked up at him and instead continued to stare at her laptop screen with a dispassionate gaze. He gave her a slightly helpless smile before walking back to his room.

It seemed like her sleeping problem would remain an issue until she found a partner who wasn't her sister to rest with on a regular basis or until they discovered a better cure for her than oral medications. Either path seemed dismal in her case.

He exhaled deeply.

A slight smirk soon crossed his lips when he entertained a small thought in his mind, remembering her half-hearted suggestion of a possible solution that involved him in which she hoped would put him off,  _not that it did_. The smirk only widened as he recalled her admission of her attraction towards him and her strangely  _affectionate_  attitude when she was a little tipsy. He wondered how she would've reacted if he had agreed to her suggestion.

Akashi admitted to himself that her touch was not unpleasant. He then shook his head in disbelief as he prepared his bedding to sleep. "What to do…" He muttered to himself as he laid down on the futon.

Reimi's voice echoed in his mind when he attempted to sleep. " _But I understand that this problem lies with me, so I shall do my best to get rid of my curiosity and hopefully squander anything that tries to go past the line we set._ "

"Do I let you? Or do I stop you?" He asked out loud for once in his life. A frown appeared on his face and uncertainty plagued his thoughts as he considered the pros and cons of each and every possible path that he could think of.

His eyes soon closed involuntarily. "But what if I don't want you to…?" Those were the last words he whispered to himself.

One last thought of -  _I shouldn't though..._  - crossed his mind then, answering his own question.


	9. Chapter 9

Reimi glared at the small screen that indicated the airlines they were taking. "Akashi-sensei, are you purposely choosing this airline for your obnoxious friend?" Her left arm was now free from the sling, but she still had a pain relief patch on her shoulder.

He wisely chose to stay silent. His maroon eyes wandered over to her slumped figure that uncomfortably sat in the seat.

"I sincerely hope that…" She rubbed in between her eyebrows. The bags under her eyes had darkened from her lack of sleep, but her eyes were not as red as before. "Akashi-sensei, don't tell me the pilot is-"

A very familiar male voice interrupted, blasting through the intercom.  _"Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kise Ryouta and I will be your pilot for this flight~ We will arrive at Kanazawa in approximately three hours and fifty minutes, so please keep your seatbelts fastened as you keep your eyes on the screen while the safety procedures are being shown. The air attendants will now check the cabin to ensure that we can take off in a few minutes~"_

Akashi merely smiled in return when Reimi quietly growled to herself in utter displeasure. "At the very least, I won't have to hear his voice throughout the entire flight since I'll pass out by the time we're in the air, thanks to my medication."

"It won't be too bad." He commented.

She sighed. "Do you find this amusing? Do you enjoy tormenting me so?" Exasperation creeped into her voice. "Get me off this airplane. To think I would have to hear that  _sparkling_  voice of his again. Ugh."

"Sparkling?" This time, amusement swirled in his eyes.

"Yes,  _sparkling_. I don't know how else to describe that epitome of bright yellow." Her hands moved in the air as if to explain her words. She then groaned, giving up when she realized her ability to speak had deteriorated, and proceeded to close her eyes while leaning against the wall again. "Wake me up when we get there."

"Alright." Akashi crossed his arms and closed his eyes as well, waiting for the plane to take off. As the plane began to fly into the air, his shoulders relaxed as he listened to the natural noise around him, lulling him into a light sleep.

* * *

After they had landed and managed to avoid meeting a certain blonde pilot at the airport, they strolled through the streets of Kanazawa. "Are we there yet?" Reimi asked Akashi with a subdued posture. She was clearly exhausted.

"Just a few more minutes. We're close though."

"Finally…" Relief pooled into her jade green eyes. The moment they were about to cross the street, a car zoomed by. She briefly saw the driver turning his head to face the woman in the other seat for a mere second when another car slammed into their car. The screeching sound from the cars and the screams of people swirled in the air as chaos erupted in the area. Reimi flinched and almost shakily grabbed Akashi in an effort to calm herself. Thankfully, she caught herself before she could do so, hoping that he had not noticed. A chill shiver ran through her body as she thought she heard the beeping noise of a heart monitor from behind her. Cold sweat formed on her skin as she gathered her bearings, finally turning towards her partner. "Akashi-sensei."

"Let's go." He ran over to the scene with her, helping people pull out the drivers and passengers. "Tsukishiro-san, call 119."

"On it." She explained the situation on the phone before going over to help Akashi. "How are they?"

"The passengers are okay. They just need first aid. Both drivers though…" His eyes narrowed in displeasure. "How long will it take them?"

"Thankfully only three minutes since they're close by."

"Check the other driver for me while I stabilize her."

"Got it." Reimi listened carefully for the heartbeat of the other driver. Her frown only deepened. She immediately straightened up and her focus zeroed in on the male. She opened the airway by tilting his head back slightly to lift the chin. When she checked his breathing for ten seconds, she found that he wasn't breathing at all.. She began the series of chest compressions. "One, two, three-"

The driver still had no heartbeat. Her eyes glazed over a little. Tilting the person's head back slightly again and lifting the chin, she pinched their nose shut and placed her mouth over theirs to deliver rescue breaths. She blew into the person's mouth twice, making the chest rise. Afterwards, she started the chest compressions again. "I won't let you die... I won't-" Her voice shook.

Reimi continued to vigorously perform multiple series of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the paramedics arrived. The driver, thankfully, coughed soon after. She breathed heavily and immediately stopped the CPR procedure the moment she noticed him breathing again. The female paramedic quickly dashed over to them and proceeded to put a tube into the driver's throat, pressing the air pump once it was in.

"We'll go with them." Akashi informed the paramedics, who allowed the two to enter the ambulances. Before jumping into the vehicle, however, he glanced at Reimi while a complicated expression flickered on his face for a second. Determination flickered in her eyes.

* * *

After they made sure that the patients were taken care of in the hospital and informed the ryokan of their late arrival, they walked slowly side by side along the road towards the ryokan. While Reimi was out of it during their walk, Akashi continued to observe her drained figure with slight unease.

He soon paused mid-step and stood there, watching her back. He finally voiced out his concern as he recalled the desperate tone in her voice and her focused yet glazed eyes as she performed CPR on the driver. "Why are you so desperate to save those who end up in a car crash?"

Reimi stopped walking at his abrupt question. She then faced him with a blank expression. "It's my job to save them."

He shook his head. "While our job is to save them, your attitude indicates something else, especially when you see the car crash yourself."

"Desperation helps me focus better." They both knew it was an obvious lie. She seemed to almost give up as she knew herself that she was a terrible liar. Half-truths, however, were a different story.

His maroon eyes narrowed at her. "Don't lie to me." She stayed silent.

When he thought that she would no longer talk about this issue, she finally answered him. "My best friend got into a car crash because of me." Her voice sounded almost robotic. "I killed her. I even announced her time of death-"

"That's not-"

She took a step back and a mixture of strong emotions swirled in her eyes as she looked up at him. He recognized the hurt, anger, frustration, and guilt reflected there. "I saw her  _die_ , Akashi- _kun_." He subtly twitched at her use of - _kun_  as it almost demanded his attention and indicated her lack of self-control at this point. "I couldn't do anything for her. I was useless as her best friend and as a doctor. What's the point in being a doctor if I can't even save the ones I care for?" She was very close to shouting but managed to keep from doing so. Her head pounded from the intensity of her emotions. She breathed heavily.

Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes. She wanted to stop herself; this was not like her. She always had control over herself. There was no point in losing it right now, especially in front of  _him_. She was stronger than this. Reimi turned away completely and began walking away to hide them from her partner. Crying felt like a sign of weakness but logically, she knew that it was a sign of being human. However, she did not get far as she felt a hand tug on her own, stopping her effectively.

Akashi took a step forward, blocking her as he made her face him. He then pulled her into an unexpected embrace. Her tears trailed down her cheeks. The only noises he heard from her were sniffles and he felt her wiping away her tears with her hand. Her body shuddered a little before breathing deeply.

After a few minutes of quiet crying, she calmed down and leaned against him comfortably before she asked him a question. "Have you lost someone before?"

He stayed silent for a couple of minutes. "...I have.." Before she could ask who, he continued. "I lost my mother when I was ten." She said nothing but raised her arms to hug him back. Her fingers curled and grabbed ahold of the back of his shirt. She could hear his heartbeat beating strongly in his chest. He hesitantly held her closer as he breathed in her scent.

Although they stood there in silence, they were both comforted by the physical reminder of life in the form of their warmth. No words described the understanding and connection they felt between them in that very moment and they never pointed it out to each other after that in order to maintain the illusionary distance between them.

* * *

Akashi stood at the podium. Reimi fixed her entire concentration onto the screen. When he finally introduced his topic on various suturing techniques at the conference, she leaned back in her seat comfortably.

Soon, the room began to darken a little more and a video popped up, revealing Akashi's innovative suturing technique. There was a buzz going around the entire room. Excited whispers and cries of praise flooded the area. All of that noise disappeared into the background for Reimi as she admired the beautiful technique he showed on the video. On the pamphlet, she took notes on the video, which was on repeat. before trying it herself in the air. The elegant motion of his fingers as he handled the suturing burned in her mind.

When it was time to socialize with the others, Reimi kept to herself for once, looking over her notes and drawing the suturing from memory. From the corner of her eye, however, she found Akashi surrounded by a majority of the attendees, who were attempting to gather tips on his sophisticated suturing techniques and to invite him to join their hospital instead. Instead of intervening, she decided to head back to the ryokan alone since he was clearly busy with the crowd. There was no point in getting herself into that mess. One female was enough for her to handle. She finally exited the room, hoping to not get lost with the help of the locals and the GPS on her phone.

After a few hours of getting lost, Reimi arrived at the ryokan in a mess. She trudged to her room and gathered her items before taking a dip in the onsen. Ignoring the foreigners and Japanese visitors, she kept to herself, staying near the hidden edge where the rest of the people could not see her. She imagined the suturing again as she relaxed in the water. The steam from the water muddled her thoughts, but the clear image of Akashi's fingers elegantly suturing remained. Her own fingers almost itched at the thought of suturing again. Strangely enough, she missed the sensation of the technique. It was similar to meditation, centering her.

Immediately, she left the onsen, put on a yukata, and entered her room to grab her suturing practice kit and notes on the pamphlet. As soon as she had the kit in her hands, she headed for the comfortable lounge. There were usually not a lot of people hanging around the lounge at this time, so she sat down and began attempting to copy Akashi's suturing technique. Frustration bled into her voice as she growled to herself. "You turn here and then I do this…" Without her realizing, hours passed by and it was dark outside. "Why won't it work…"

"It's because you're turning it in the wrong angle." Akashi's voice popped up from behind her.

She jumped up, placing her hand over her chest to calm herself. "You scared me." Reimi looked over at him. He was already dressed in his yukata. "When did you come back?"

"A while ago. I was wondering where you went." He shrugged. "Have you been doing this since you came back?"

"Yes. Why? What time is it?"

"It's dark outside. Did you eat?"

She paused. "I'll just eat a bar later." Ignoring him, she tried to figure out what she was doing wrong. She took his word into account regarding the angle and continued to try his technique.

"Ah. I did it." Her hands stopped moving and she stared at it as if something strange had happened.

Akashi chuckled under his breath, squeezing her shoulder. "Good job, you finally did it."

"I did…" She still did not move.

"Keep practicing. I'm sure you'll reach my level soon." He waved as he walked back to his room.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say…" She huffed and tried the technique again to make sure that her success just now was not a fluke.

* * *

As Reimi walked around Kenroku-en Garden with Akashi silently, her phone rang. "Sorry, let me get this."

He nodded and stood to the side, watching her from a distance.

She quickly walked away to get some privacy for the call. "Hello?"

" _Rei-chan._ "

"Mom. Is something the matter?"

" _I just missed you. That's why I called. Are you busy?_ "

"Not really. I'm just out with a coworker. Still at Kanazawa. We're at the Kenroku-en Garden. It's very beautiful here. You probably would love it."

" _Oh, then I can always call later._ "

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. Do you want anything in Kanazawa? Since I'm already out, I can buy you a souvenir."

Her mother's voice paused for a little bit. " _Then can you bring me some specialty tea?_ "

"Of course. Have you been sleeping a little these days? How about your nose? Did you get the check-up done?" Reimi rubbed the area between her eyebrows.

" _Don't worry. My nose will be fine. I'm getting the check-up done soon. I can never sleep well, but that's how it always is. Have you been eating and sleeping well these days?_ "

"...Of course." Her throat felt stiff at the lie she gave. "Nothing to worry about."

" _How about your health? Is your condition okay?_ "

"Mom, that was a long time ago. I don't have that condition anymore. That was when I was a child. And plus, Gosha-sensei did a fine job for my surgery. Rehabilitation and aftercare were perfect as well. You don't need to ask about it now." She fiddled with the phone in her hand.

" _Of course. I just worried it'll relapse one day. Sometimes, I wish you weren't-_ "

"Mom, don't finish that sentence." Reimi's voice turned harsh. "Is there anything else you wanted from me?"

" _No, I just missed hearing your voice._ "

She softened her voice. "Once I come back from Kanazawa, I'll visit you with your souvenir. Did  _onee-chan_  come by to visit recently?"

" _She's coming to visit tomorrow._ " Excitement permeated her mother's voice.

"Then tell her that I send her my regards."

" _Okay. Now, don't keep your coworker waiting. Call me when you come back to Tokyo._ "

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then. Bye, Mom."

" _Bye._ " She ended the call and placed it back in her bag before joining Akashi once more. Her arm brushed against his arm occasionally as they explored the beauty of the garden together.

"You know, I always wanted to try their local specialty." Reimi pointed at a nearby restaurant.

He checked his watch. "It's the perfect time to eat lunch. Let's go in."

"Okay." Her lips curled upwards at his lead.

* * *

Reimi stood at the top of a hill with a bouquet of flowers in her hand. The sun began to climb up into the air. As she took a step down the stairs, she noticed two figures in front of a grave. They were in mourning, wearing black clothes and standing there like statues. It was her best friend's parents.

She turned around, hiding behind a tree. She could not ruin their moment with their daughter. "Who am I to show my face to them? After all, I'm just a..." She closed her eyes, soaking in the noise from the nature around her.

An hour or so passed by before the parents left the grave.

Reimi stepped down and walked towards her best friend's grave, placing down the bouquet of flowers. "Hey. I'm here. Took me a while, right?"

The wind blew against her. She smiled wryly to herself. "I don't blame you for getting mad at me. Even if… Even if Kanazawa is a bit far for me to casually visit as a doctor, you know."

She sat down on the hard floor. "Can you forgive me? Do I have the right to forgive myself when I failed you? What do you think is the correct choice to make?" The scent of the flowers and grass lingered in the air.

"You know how you always wanted me to have a love life of sorts?" She grinned before bursting out into brief laughter. "I think I might have found someone that I like a lot." Her smile fell. "But I don't know what to do about it. You're the expert when it comes to these type of things… Not me…"

The sunlight brightened the gravestone. "It seems like even the sun misses your bubbly and energized personality." She picked at a flower. "I miss you a lot. I wish you were here with me."

Reimi stood up, staring at the grave. "I won't let you down. I swear that I won't. I'll definitely continue to do my best as a doctor." She then sighed. "And I'm sure that you want me to open up to the person I like, so I'll try… At my own pace, of course." She touched the letters of her best friend's name before stepping back. "I'll be back soon... Hopefully with more good news."

The clouds covered the sunlight for a few minutes, allowing her to stand in the shade. She then walked away from the grave, giving one last glance before departing.


	10. Chapter 10

"Have you noticed the way Tsukishiro-sensei has been acting these days?"

"Around Akashi-sensei?"

"It's more like the two of them have been a little awkward with each other lately."

"They've been like that ever since their injuries." The head nurse popped up from behind them. The nurses screeched before scrambling to do their work. "It's been a few weeks since they came back from the conferences though…"

Nurse Awa came over with a dreamy look on her face. "It's love, isn't it? Those two are going to get together soon." She squealed. "I can't wait!"

Another nurse rolled her eyes. "You always say that about any guy that goes near your doctor."

"That's not true!" She pouted and crossed her arms to indicate her displeasure.

"Sure, Tsukishiro-sensei gets flustered around Akashi at times, but that pertains to most people." The nurse pointed out.

"But Akashi-sensei is closer to her in distance and he looks content around her!"

"And he isn't like that with everyone else?"

"That's not what I meant! I meant that he's different around her!" Nurse Awa glared at them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Reimi approached them when she noticed her assigned nurse getting agitated.

"Tsukishiro-sensei. When was the last time you dated?" The nurse that Nurse Awa was glaring at asked her.

"Whether I dated before or not… That is none of your concern, but to be clear, I had considerably better things to worry about and to do in my life. Now, is that a problem in the ER?" Reimi's face hardened as she stood in front of Nurse Awa protectively.

The nurse flinched. "Of course not. I apologize."

"If you have nothing better to do but gossip… Clearly, it means that you're not getting enough work around here." Her jade green eyes narrowed. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course." She put her head down.

"Do not bully my assigned nurse. You may disagree with her since that is life, but no need to make it personal." She drawled. "Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"Then get out of my sight." She motioned for her to leave. The nurse immediately dashed off.

Akashi was about to approach the two when he paused at the sound of Nurse Awa's voice. "So  _did_ you date, Tsukishiro-sensei?"

Reimi sighed before shaking her head. "I've only went on a date twice in college. Is that a problem?" She suddenly looked exhausted.

Nurse Awa did not notice, but Akashi did. He decided to wait and see before possibly intervening. "But you're not unattractive or anything. Why would they-"

"Awa-san. I was the one who rejected them after those two dates. Afterwards, males may have asked me out and tried to take me out on a date, but I refused their offer. Why? Because I had enough on my plate. I didn't want to deal with all the drama that's associated with dating and being in a relationship. Not only that, work was and still is my goal in my life. Additionally, none of the guys that I have seen and met interested me in any way. After experiencing a date with someone who I was not remotely interested in but was pushed by my friend to go on it, I decided that it was not worth my time. Just why would I go on a date with a male whom I have no interest in? Seems like a waste of my time. Is that all?" Agitation crept into Reimi's voice.

"I just have one last question."

"What is it?"

"If you met a male who interested you and they asked you out, would you agree?" Nurse Awa waited for an answer patiently.

"...Perhaps. I don't know. It depends on if our future goals are aligned. If not, then no matter how I felt about the male, I would not agree to be with them. It would just be a waste of our time." Reimi sighed to herself before freezing in place as she spotted red hair.

Akashi looked back at her with a contemplating look on his face. She almost choked as her heart jolted at the sight. Her fingers twitched as she turned on her heel and hurriedly walked away in the opposite direction. Her ears began to burn red as she did so.

The former point guard chuckled under his breath as he grabbed his chart. He returned to his rounds with a pleasant and content expression. He found that he rather enjoyed startling her.

* * *

"Tsukishiro-sensei."

"Midorima-sensei. Is something the matter?"

He pushed up his glasses. "Your older sister is here to see you. It seems to be something urgent."

"...Urgent?"

"Yes. She'll be in the resting room."

"I understand. Thank you for telling me." Reimi dashed to the resting room and gasped for air once she arrived. "What's wrong,  _onee-chan_?"

Tsukishiro Hiyori, Reimi's older sister, smiled wanly at her younger and beloved sibling. "Hey, Rei-chan." Hiyori's face looked tired but at Reimi's appearance, her countenance seemed to brighten. She got up from where she was sitting to approach Reimi.

Reimi took in Hiyori's appearance, eyeing her sister's long black hair that was tied in a low ponytail. It was coming loose, looking as though she had perhaps slept on it or had had it in for over a day without redoing it. Despite her sister's small eyes, Reimi easily saw that they were bloodshot. Whether it was from crying or from lack of sleep or both, she could not come to a conclusion yet.

As her older sister embraced her in greeting, she quickly felt an unnatural coolness coming from her sister's body. Dubbed as the human heater in their family, aside from her perpetually cold feet, Hiyori could usually be relied on to function as a heater whenever someone was cold, so her not being warm was highly unusual.

Hiyori continued to snuggle into the hug a little longer as though she was trying to leech some of her younger sister's body heat onto herself. Watching her older sister carefully, Reimi made no move to pull away as she found Hiyori's action to be quite normal, considering that her older sister was always weak against the cold. However, for Hiyori to have a lower body temperature, it usually meant that she had pulled an all-nighter.

"I missed you…" Hiyori said as she seemed to reluctantly pull away from her younger sister. Her amethyst purple eyes looked a little less dull as she pulled Reimi over by the hands to sit down with her. Immediately, the thought of her older sister's hands being very cold crossed her mind.

"I missed you too…" Reimi replied almost automatically as this was always a fact whenever the two were away from one another for a period of time.

"That green-haired doctor from earlier… I guess you two know each other? I'm grateful he helped me out so I could see you. I was wondering how I'd get to see you since I couldn't reach you on your phone but I guess it worked out in the end. He was very polite but a bit… eccentric, I guess." Hiyori smiled wanly as she proceeded to sit on her hands, most likely in an attempt to warm them up. Reimi's sister was not the epitome of cheerfulness like a certain pilot appeared to be but she was never this subdued around Reimi. Something was deeply wrong. Reimi felt it in her bones.

"Oh, but I felt very comfortable around him. Weird, right? I thought it'd seem a little awkward since we're strangers, but…" Hiyori let out an airy laugh as she removed her hands from under her thighs and wringed them together over her lap, moving her line of sight to the far side of the room instead of at Reimi. She appeared strained then, showing that she had heavy things on her mind despite her words.

Reimi shrugged as she continued to observe her sister. "He's almost like my twin. That's probably why." Every second passing by caused Reimi to stiffen in her seat.

"He's like you? Perhaps that's why I'm so adamant about liking him." The black haired sister smiled in amusement for a bit before her expression seemed to darken.

"And not because of the glasses?" Reimi raised an eyebrow at her.

Hiyori chuckled at that but made no reply. However, she turned somber then as her right hand gripped her left wrist, her eyes dropping to the ground.

"Anyways, I came here for a reason obviously. I'm just worried that you won't take it well, but…" Hiyori trailed off before she resumed her sentence, her tone changing to one of fake nonchalance. "It's about Mom."

"What happened? Did something happen to Mom?" Unable to hold back, Reimi delivered one question after another. She was no longer smiling at all, bracing herself for what Hiyori was about to say.

With her hand still tightly clenched around her other wrist, Hiyori opened her mouth to reply.

* * *

Reimi wandered into the ER with a blank look. Not noticing her surroundings, she bumped into one of the nurses absentmindedly. After giving a quiet apology, she continued onwards through the ER.

"Tsukishiro-sensei?" Nurse Awa called out. Reimi did not appear to have heard her.

Akashi and Midorima noticed her odd behavior as she trudged to the department chief's room. An unpleasant feeling pooled in Akashi's stomach.

"Something's wrong." He voiced his concern to Midorima, never pulling his gaze off of her.

Midorima paused before suggesting to Akashi. "I'll go find out the problem if you want."

"If you have time."

"I have time now." Midorima then promptly left the ER, heading towards the resting room.

Once he reached his destination, he spotted the elder Tsukishiro sister sitting down in the exact same place he had left her in earlier. She seemed spaced out, almost as though she was about to fall asleep. Taking the initiative, Midorima cut in. "May I join you?"

Hiyori looked up at the green haired doctor, looking a bit bewildered not at his appearance but at herself; it was clear that Hiyori had not realized that she had almost fallen asleep until then.

Quickly collecting herself, she gave him a small smile. "Of course. Is something the matter?"

Midorima sat down across from her, shifting his glasses before speaking. "Allow me to get straight to the point. What is wrong with Tsukishiro-sensei? A friend of mine in the ER is concerned about her abrupt change in behavior."

Hiyori blinked at his question before coming to a logical conclusion. "Are you worried that it might affect her in the ER?"

"Perhaps. So do you know why Tsukishiro-sensei is acting like that?"

Hiyori helplessly shrugged as her demeanor turned nonchalant. "I don't know."

"You're lying." Midorima's eyes narrowed as he shot down her answer.

"I really am not lying. If I could do something about it, I would.  _Really_." Hiyori shook her head before looking sadly at the former Shuutoku player, convincing Midorima that she was somewhat telling the truth. Silence fell in the room before Hiyori spoke again. "I guess I was partially lying though." She shook her head again, this time accompanied by a self-deprecating chuckle.

All he knew was that something was wrong.  _Very wrong._ "I can help."

"...Is that so?" At her delayed reply, Midorima briefly saw a glint of coldness in her eyes that made him eerily recall the brief cold eyes Akashi had in his Teikou days before his ultimate change during that fateful match against Murasakibara. The tension in the room was thick until Hiyori broke it with a sigh as she shot him an apologetic smile. "Thank you for offering. It's just… She's always like this. Unfortunately, I can't fight off... inner demons."

Before he could respond, she stood up. "I should head back now."

Midorima politely stood up in response as he shifted his glasses again. "I apologize for taking up your time."

"No, it's quite alright." Hiyori gave a small smile as she tucked back several loose strands of hair behind her right ear before giving a polite bow and heading towards the exit. Midorima's eyes did not stray from her back until the door shut, signaling her departure.

* * *

Before Akashi had the chance to call out to her, Reimi charged out of the ER, leaving the hospital.

"Taxi!" She jumped in and gave them the address of her destination. The ride was filled with intense silence. She clutched her hands tightly, telling herself to calm down. "It'll be okay…" She knew that was a lie to herself.

"We're here." The taxi driver turned towards her when he stopped the car. She paid the man and exited the vehicle, staring at the large building before her. Taking a deep breath, she entered the building.

"Excuse me. I heard that my mother is in critical condition. Her name is Tsukishiro Kuromi."

"Please head to the ICU. She was placed in room 103."

"Thank you." Reimi rushed through the rooms, finally reaching a guarded area. "Excuse me, my mother is in here. Am I allowed to see her right now?"

Before the guard could respond, a tall navy blue-haired police officer exited the room, effectively blocking the way. A doctor also exited the room and spoke to her in a neutral tone. "Apologies, but you can't see her right now."

"Even though I'm family?" She glared at the man.

"Family? I'm assuming you are the youngest daughter. Your sister couldn't get to you on the phone."

"I know. She told me." Reimi stood there awkwardly before looking up at the officer. "Are you the one who found my mom?"

"I am."

"Did you catch the culprit?" She knew it was a stupid question to ask when she saw the male's dark blue eyes darken in frustration.

"Unfortunately no. We'll definitely be putting all our strength into this investigation. When you have time, we would like to ask you a few questions."

"I don't mind. Can you give me a few minutes, so that I can see my mom first?"

"Of course."

"Thank you." She entered the room. Black thin hair laid out on a pillow. Her mother' skin was sickly pale as if she was breathing her last breath. Reimi hated how she could not see her forest green eyes. She checked her mother's feet, which were scraped as if she had been dragged along rough concrete floor. "The person who did this to you… They will pay.  _I will make sure of it._ "

Suddenly, she felt empty inside,  _so hollow_.

Her mind was falling and drowning in the dark oceans of a cold world.

And now, she was alone.

_All alone..._

* * *

Ever since her visit to her mother, Reimi took on more shifts and surgeries than before. This severely alarmed the chief as she had already been doing a lot before this incident.

"You called for me?" Reimi entered the room.

"Yes. Please have a seat." She did as he said.

"Now, do you know why you are here?" The chief clasped his hands together.

She never looked at him. "Yes."

"Then why are you taking on more shifts than usual? You know that I told you to stop. So many night shifts… Just what on Earth are you thinking?" His hand slammed against the desk.

"Working. Doing my job. You cannot stop me from doing my job, Chief."

"Rei-kun,  _please_. You're going to destroy yourself." Gosha-kanchou pleaded with her. Her face remained hard and lifeless.

"Let me do this." She whispered. "I need to be strong. I need to stay strong. I need to do this."

" _Rei-kun!_ "

"I will take my leave now." She bowed and exited the room, allowing the door to click shut behind her with grave finality.

* * *

"Tsukishiro-sensei, are you ready for your rounds?" Nurse Awa smiled brightly but even that failed to elicit a warm response from Reimi. She only nodded with an expressionless face. Nurse Awa looked at her with worry from behind as Reimi walked by with the charts in her hands.

"Please be sure to decrease the medication for this patient, Awa-san."

"Of course." When the two headed for the next ward, Nurse Awa grabbed the arm sleeve of Reimi's coat, catching her attention. "Tsukishiro-sensei. You need to smile around your patients or else they might feel like something is wrong."

Reimi glanced at her for a moment and nodded. "Apologies. It won't happen again. I will be sure to rectify that problem."

"Is something wrong, Tsukishiro-sensei? You haven't been talking to Akashi-sensei or anyone else lately."

"Nothing is wrong. I just have a lot to think about."

Worry pooled in the nurse's eyes. "Oh, well, if you have any problems, then I'll be here for you."

"Thank you. Let's move on now, shall we?" The silver haired doctor's expression never changed and that worried Nurse Awa more than anything else.

* * *

"Say, Akashi-kun, have you seen Tsukishiro-sensei eat in the cafeteria lately?" Doctor Masuda inquired with a worried expression.

"I…" Akashi thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "I haven't seen her in the cafeteria for quite a while now."

"I see. Well, you should tell her to eat in the cafeteria the next time you see her. I'm a little worried about her eating habits."

"Of course." Akashi's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of Reimi's condition. She passed by them absentmindedly while chewing on an energy bar. She held a few file folders in her arm.

"Tsukishiro-sensei?" Doctor Masuda called out to her.

Reimi stopped walking before facing them. "Yes?"

"You should go eat at the cafeteria soon."

"I'll go there later." She then dismissed herself, minimizing communication with them.

Akashi noted that the bags under her eyes only got darker as the days went by and the red in her eyes had become a consistent feature of herself. She was becoming the definition of self-destruction. While he had given her space in the beginning, he decided then that he needed to put a stop to this destructive path she had set out for herself.

* * *

When Reimi was about to pass by him again, Akashi grabbed her wrist, pulling her into an empty room. "What-"

He slammed the door shut and cornered her. "Tsukishiro-san."

Disoriented, she took a minute to compose herself. "Akashi-sensei, is there something that you need from me? I believe we already discussed the upcoming surgery together earlier today."

"If you really think that the surgery is the reason why we're here, your reasoning skills have taken a turn for the worst." Akashi indirectly took a verbal jab at her recent tendency to overwork herself by referring to one of the various negative side effects of not getting enough rest.

She glared at him. "Then I suppose that I'm stupid. Why don't you enlighten me with your oh-so-great knowledge?"

"Don't mock me, Tsukishiro- _senpai_." Despite returning fire, Akashi remained calm as he spoke. He noticed her hand twitch at his use of the suffix  _senpai_.

"What do you want from me, Akashi- _kun_." She took on his challenge, effectively planting herself right into his trap.

" _What's wrong?_ " He stressed both words while taking a step towards her.

"Why do you ask that?" She smoothed out her coat. "There's nothing wrong."

"Do you not think that no one's noticed? Something happened. Something big happened and you've been shaken by it.  _Badly._ "

She stiffened. "I don't need to explain myself to anyone."

"Perhaps you don't need to, but if you cannot see how your behavior is affecting the people around you, then perhaps there is a need to explain yourself."

Anger flared in her jade green eyes. She snarled, "Well, maybe I just want to  _protect_  everyone by distancing myself from them!" A brief triumphant look glinted in Akashi's eyes, which went unnoticed by the doctor herself.

"How do you protect everyone when you're allowing yourself to be tormented and tortured by whatever it is that is bothering you?" Akashi relentlessly pushed onward with a fierceness that seemed to hint at his familiarity on the subject, cracking his calm demeanor just slightly.

"If I show weakness… If I dare to show any sign of weakness…" She stepped up to him until they could almost feel the other's breath. "The police can't protect everyone."

"What are you-"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Anyone close to me… My sister… Anyone close to her… Because I'm at the hospital all the time, I'll be safer… They think that I'll be safe here without any kind of protection. My sister and everyone really close to her already has police protection… I don't have my best friend with me anymore, so that only leaves the hospital staff. I can't… I can't let anyone know or see that I'm close to any of the staff members." Reimi was easily losing her cool, signaling to Akashi that she wasn't as fine as she made herself out to be.

"Tsukishiro-san-"

"I can't say anything." Her voice wavered.

"Tsukishiro-"

Tears slid down her cheeks. "I have to stay strong."

"Tsu-"

"I have to protect everyone by-"

"REIMI!" Akashi grabbed ahold of her shoulders, shaking her in order to snap her out of it. She froze with wide eyes. "I don't know why you're suddenly talking about the police, but if you continue to do it this way, you'll destroy yourself before anyone tries to attack the hospital staff members. Do you understand?"

She said nothing as she continued to stare at him.

"We can't afford to lose you here. We can't let you break yourself. We need you as Tsukishiro-sensei." His maroon eyes locked with hers. " _I need you... as my partner._ "

Before she could respond, a voice cut in from her walkie-talkie. " _Tsukishiro-sensei. There's a police officer here to see you? His name is Aomine Daiki. He said that you would know why he's here._ "

"Aomine…?" Akashi looked thoughtful.

She shakily grabbed her device. "I'll be there in a minute. Have him wait there for me."

" _Understood._ "

"I have to leave now." Reimi pulled Akashi's hands off of her shoulders.

"I'm going with you." His eyes hardened, leaving no room for discussion.

She shook her head. "You can't."

"Try me." He effectively blocked her way when she attempted to leave.

Annoyance bled into her voice. "It's not like they'll let you-"

"I know Aomine personally.  _He will_." Akashi's tone made his last two words sound like a certainty rather than hot air. He then held her hand securely in his own.

She sighed, relenting. "Fine. Do what you want."

"I will." Akashi followed her without letting go of her hand, but he noticed that during the entire walk over to the ER, she never once tried to free her hand from his grip.


	11. Chapter 11

"Aomine." Akashi looked up at the former power forward coolly.

"Akashi. It's been a while."

"It has."

"While it's great to see you again, I'm here to talk to Tsukishiro Reimi." Aomine glanced at Reimi who remained quiet.

"Follow me." Akashi ordered as he pulled Reimi with him, motioning for Aomine to follow. Aomine followed the two to an unused room.

"With this, no one can hear or bother us." He stood in front of Reimi. "Why are you here, Aomine?"

"Akashi-sensei." Reimi grabbed his arm. "This-"

"No. I refuse to let this go." His eyes flickered fiercely for a moment. "I am her partner, Aomine. Her safety and health are my highest priority right now.  _Tell me._ "

Aomine glanced at Reimi again. Her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration as though she was unable to get a good grasp of the situation. "Akashi... If I tell you, then you won't be able to get out of it. You're busy enough as it is, especially since you've got a score to even."

"A score to even?" Reimi parroted Aomine's words, feeling Akashi's arm briefly tense beneath her hand at those words.

"Stop bothering Satsuki for information. If you're going to bug someone, go bug Midorima or something." Aomine's tone was fairly neutral as he launched the suggestion, but his eyes looked fairly serious as he looked at the former point guard. "It's your problem, not hers."

Akashi ignored the blatant contradiction in Aomine's words and instead arched an eyebrow, looking slightly amused. "It appears you figured it out yourself."

"Yeah, I was wondering why she was so busy with her work lately." Used to Akashi's seeming omniscience, Aomine did not bother to look surprised as he leaned against the wall. "Satsuki hasn't been getting much sleep lately, thanks to you."

"What… is going on here…?" Reimi voiced out her concern at last, unsure of what the two were talking about. As a result, her previous intense emotions were forgotten.

"We're finding a way to solve my problem and yours." Akashi replied as he looked back at Reimi reassuringly.

* * *

"I'm counting on you both then. I'll contact the others later, Akashi. Gotta have that basketball game to test out that triple screen play soon, right?" Aomine grinned cockily before he started for the exit.

"Of course. I'll let Midorima and Kuroko know then." Aomine acknowledged Akashi's words with a short wave before he left the room. Nurse Awa then promptly came into the room.

"There you both are. I'm sure you've finished your business with the officer?"

"Yes, we are." Reimi quickly let go of Akashi's arm then. The movement went unnoticed by Nurse Awa, but Akashi was quite aware of the lingering warmth left by her hand. "Is something the matter? Was there a Code Blue?"

Nurse Awa shook her head. "Ah, no. It's nothing like that. The director wants to see the two of you in his office."

Reimi paused. "Oh. Well, we'll be right there then." Knowing she was being dismissed, Nurse Awa nodded in acknowledgement before leaving the room.

Once it was just the two of them, Reimi sighed and turned on her heel to walk through the hallways. Akashi matched her pace as she spoke to him, irritation bleeding into her voice. "What do you think he wants from us?"

He crossed his arms for a moment before letting them hang by his sides in a controlled manner. "We'll find out soon enough." Like his neutral answer, Akashi's expression did not reveal an inkling of what he actually felt on the matter.

"True." She scrunched up her face. "I hate meeting him." Despite her words, the tenseness in his shoulders faded a little at that admission.

A smirk graced his lips. "I thought you were personally recruited by him."

At his words, she groaned out loud, tugging at her hair a little. "I was, but I only accepted because of Gosha-sensei. If it wasn't for him… I would have never come here." She sighed as she glared at the wall. "That creepy bastard."

Akashi raised an eyebrow. "Creepy?"

Goosebumps appeared on her skin. "I don't like being near him." She unintentionally shuddered, causing Akashi's eyes to narrow at her reaction "He makes me feel uncomfortable." She paused then, pondering on how to better describe the director. "Maybe two-faced bastard is a better representation of what he is."

When they arrived, she took a deep breath and her hand hovered over her beating heart. Akashi took that hand in his own before letting go. He faced her seriously. "Ready?"

Reimi locked eyes with him. Her heart squeezed painfully for a moment before it calmed down completely. She felt as if she was floating on water while breathing clean air, completely free. She closed her eyes and opened them, taking in her partner's patient and calm demeanor. It was as if she had turned on a switch. Her lips widened into a smile, filled with preparation and recognition. Reimi grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "Always." Letting go of his hand, she turned towards the door and knocked on it twice.

"Who is it?" A deep voice called out from within.

Straightening her back, a firm and polite smile tugged on her lips. "Tsukishiro Reimi, sir." Her voice was filled with clarity and assurance.

"Ah, my favorite doctor." Reimi's finger twitched as her eyes slowly reflected nothing but emptiness. The polite smile on her face still remained. "I presume that Akashi-sensei is there with you?"

She kept her eyes leveled. "Yes sir."

"Come in, both of you!" At his words, she closed her eyes once more for a few seconds.

Once she opened her eyes, Reimi swiftly opened the door for the both of them, entering with a certain flair. She quickly got into the role that the director liked and expected from her, one full of charisma and absolute confidence.

Akashi briefly noted to himself that the room was filled with extravagant sofas and tables; it was very unlike a hospital. The leather seat that the director sat creaked when he stood up to greet them. She finally stood in front of his desk with Akashi, putting her hands together in front of her. "You called for us?"

The director jovially laughed. "Yes. I just wished to commend both of your efforts to the hospital." He walked up to the two and placed his hand on Reimi's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. She controlled herself from twitching uncomfortably. Akashi's jaw tightened. "You both have done a great service to us all." He gave one last pat on her back, letting his hand linger over her.

This is when Akashi swooped in naturally, giving Reimi room to escape from the source of her discomfort. "It is merely our job to do what we do best." He gave the director a polite smile, but the director's smile faded.

In seconds, however, he was laughing again, but this time, it sounded cold and hollow. His eyes seemed to emanate chilly displeasure. "Ah, to be humble. That's a good sign of a great doctor in the making." The middle-aged man then put his hands together as he reached out to touch Reimi's shoulder. "Isn't that right, Tsukishiro-sensei?" Reimi avoided looking into the eyes of the director before giving him a curt nod.

Noticing the sudden tension in the room, she inquired. "Is there anything else you wanted from us?"

"Ah, of course. I apologize for taking up your time." His words were empty. They both knew that he could care less about wasting their time. He placed a folder on one side of his desk, turning towards the two. "Do you know about the ex-prime minister?"

Reimi immediately answered. "The one who retired recently?"

He laughed jovially and patted her back again. She stopped herself from stiffening and discreetly took a step away from him. "Yes, I knew you would catch on quick, Tsukishiro-sensei."

Her eyes flickered. "Does he require medical assistance?" She finally managed to stand next to Akashi, not willing to stand near the man before her.

The director tapped on his chin. "Well, we were invited…"

"To?" She watched him carefully.

He gave them a big smile as if it was an honor that they were chosen. "You both have been invited to do a live surgery on the ex-prime minister at Tokyo Medical University Hospital."

Her stomach dropped. She hated this already because it smelled of politics. "Is there a possibility to refuse this invitation?" Her hand tightened around her other hand. "Or is this an order?"

The director's smile fell from his face. His gaze chilled and hardened. "What are you implying?"

Her fingernails dug into her skin as her fists tightened. "While I do not believe this is a wise decision for the patient himself, if that is what you wish, then it will be done." She then glanced down at the ground again, releasing her fists. "It's not like I have a choice if it's an order." She mumbled to herself unhappily.

The director turned towards Akashi with the same cold expression. "Do you also agree with her choice, Akashi-sensei?"

"Of course." Akashi replied succinctly with a bland expression on his face.

The director clapped his hands with a pleased look. "Good! I knew I could count on you two." He then fixed his tie for a second. "The patient and surgery information will be sent to you soon, so check your emails later."

"Understood." Reimi forced her emotions to disappear into the very back corner of her mind.

He motioned the door to them. "You are dismissed." Before both could leave, however, he called out to Reimi. "Tsukishiro-sensei. Please stay for a moment. I still have something to say to you." Dread captured her heart.

Her hands felt clammy and sweaty. She hesitated and glanced up at Akashi who then nodded to her before exiting the room. Her mind turned into an open white space, one filled with nothingness. She needed to become nothingness. After all, control was key. She faced the director once more with a calm expression and waited patiently for his next set of words.

"You truly are my favorite." He murmured to himself as he walked up to her.

Her fingernails dug into her skin again as she squeezed her hand with her other one to stop herself from showing any outward signs of her revulsion for the man. "Akashi-sensei has more potential and talent than me. He's also younger. Shouldn't he deserve the spot of being your favorite?" She suggested, carefully choosing her words.

The director laughed out loud once more. "He might be more talented than you, Tsukishiro-sensei, but I doubt his current skills exceed your own right now." His supposed reassuring hand on her back gave her more goosebumps instead. She swallowed uncomfortably. "It's easy to find talented people with high potential, but it's not easy to find someone like yourself."

Reimi then took a deep breath and had to stop herself from glaring at him. It took all her self-control to maintain a neutral expression. "Meaning..?" She let him go on with his theatrics, knowing that he loved being the person in the spotlight. She immediately took a step away from him, causing his hand to leave her back.

"Passionate and competent at your job. Pleasing to the eye. Very well-connected. Humble and controlled." She imagined what it would be like to punch him in the face in order to keep an eyebrow from twitching.

Her tone almost took on a sarcastic bite then. "I find that Akashi-sensei is also the same way." The fact that her gender was a big part of the reason why she was his favorite employee evoked feelings of disgust, frustration, and injustice.

"Still, I prefer you over him." That was when she wanted to rip his throat out and pummel him into the ground until he was a bloody mess. The marks on her hands from digging her nails into them reflected her utter hatred towards him. "In fact, I am willing to help you get the chief position after Gosha-kanchou retires." He spoke as if she wanted the position, which irritated her to no end. After all, Reimi  _abhorred_  when people assumed things about her when they were not true.

Clearing her throat, she finally corrected him. "Unfortunately, I have no interest in such a political position. I am more interested in learning and perfecting the art of medicine. After all, I am, first and foremost, a surgeon. Politics would be handled better by the likes of Akashi-sensei who is still young yet very capable. He's leaps and bounds ahead compared to most of his peers and upperclassmen. The fresh mind of a young doctor would do better than a jaded one in the political sphere."

The director rubbed his chin with his stubby fingers. "I will think about it then, but it would do you well in the long run to go up the ladder, Tsukishiro-sensei." He then gave one last squeeze on her shoulder before heading back to his desk. Reimi forcefully stopped herself from wanting to puke at the sight of him by facing the ground. "Keep in mind that I just have your best interests in mind."

Her throat felt blocked and tight. She wanted to get out of this room already. "Of course. I would never insinuate otherwise."

"Now then, let's get to the main point." The director sat down in his seat comfortably.

"The main point, sir?" Reimi questioned. Her mind whirred impatiently.

He tapped on his desk with his finger. "Have you met my son Kyou before?"

Discomfort clenched her heart. She had a bad feeling about this. "I believe I met him once in the past, but that's all." She confirmed.

A pleased expression appeared on his face. "How would you like to have a meeting with him?"

"For?" She raised an eyebrow at the director.

He grabbed a pen from the pen holder on his desk and laughed jovially. "Why, isn't it obvious? For a possible marriage with him." When he leaned back against his chair, he tapped his pen against the surface of his desk. "I've been wanting to suggest this to you since he's quite interested in you. You also have no plans on becoming the department chief, so this is the perfect opportunity to hold some power in your hands."

She took a brief moment to choose her words carefully before speaking. "Sir, I am fine with meeting him once, but if I do not like him in that way, then I will never consider marriage with him. After all, it's my personal life, despite working at your hospital." She emphasized every word, but she had a feeling that he would only pick and choose the words that he wanted to hear.

His eyes brightened, confirming that he really did not hear all of her words as she had suspected. "Then you'll meet him? Great! I'll schedule a dinner for the two of you. You can just confirm if you're free or not when I send you the email."

Her face expression soured for a millisecond before turning neutral. "Of course, sir. May I take my leave now, sir? I need to do my rounds in a few minutes."

He grabbed a folder from his desk and began reading over it. "Of course. Go on out now." She bowed and exited the room without looking back.

The emotions she kept at bay began leaking out as she walked through the hallway. Her eyes flickered dangerously. Her hand suddenly scratched harshly at the areas that he touched, muttering furiously to herself. "Bastard. Bastard.  _Bastard._ I'll  _fucking kill_ him for touching me like that one day. I feel like puking at the very sight of him. And now I need a long shower and heal my eyes." Her fingernails dug into her skin deeply. "Does he think that I'm his pet or some shit like that? Well, one day… Just one day… He'll regret trying to do that to me.  _I'll make him regret it with all of his life_."

"Tsukishiro-san?"

" _What?!_ " Reimi snapped as she kept scratching at her shoulder, not even bothering to check who called out to her.

"Did something happen?" A familiar voice asked as a hand reached out to grab her hand, halting her scratching.

"He kept touching me. That disgusting sexually harassing bastard. He kept-" She paused mid-sentence when she looked up and locked eyes with Akashi. The dark cloud of negative emotions immediately faded away as she stared at him bewilderedly, a sudden calm coming over her. "I think my eyes are healed now."

"What?" He looked at her questioningly.

She shook her head in amusement as she inwardly acknowledged Akashi's good looks. "It's nothing. I'm going to take a shower before the next surgery, so I'll see you then."

"...I'll see you then." Akashi blinked before letting go, unsure of what had caused Reimi's mood to do a complete 180.

* * *

Back in his office, the director finally took out his cell phone, dialing a number from memory. The ringing sound echoed in the room.

When someone picked up on the other end, his eyebrows furrowed. "Finally. What took you so long to answer?" He sighed. "It doesn't matter. I have a new order for you." He shook his head before stabbing a sheet of paper on his desk with the pen in his hand over and over again.

The director's eyes turned steely. "Silence everyone involved in the incident sixteen years ago, especially my secretary at the time." His serious tone changed to one more casual then. "You can use any method. Just try not to leave any traces. You know the drill."

A pleased smirk graced his lips as he hung up and leaned against his chair again.

* * *

"Why am I here, Aomine?" A lanky male sat down in an interrogation room with a wary gaze.

"You know why." Aomine crossed his arms, resting them on top of the table.

"No, I really don't." The man shook his head at his partner. "Do you really think I had a hand in the corruption of the higher-ups? The prosecutors are just looking for a way to bring us police down. You should know that, Aomine! Especially that irritating Prosecutor Shin..."

"Don't kid around with me, Kori! Prosecutor Shin is just doing his job and you should know that. But if he's so irritating to you, perhaps there's something you want to say to me…?" When Kori glared at him, the blue-haired male smirked and leaned back against his chair. "Maybe I'll even help him find the fools who decided to give into the corruption in the first place." His dark blue eyes flickered with pure anger. "Anyways, it's more than just corruption that I suspect you of."

"What are you trying to say?" Kori stood up, yelling. The male's eyes swirled with anger and frustration. "That I would fabricate a case or something!?"

Aomine almost rolled his eyes but managed to stop himself. " _Even worse than that._ " He muttered, glaring at the male before him.

"What." Kori breathed out. He stared at his partner in dismay.

"Your actions that day were suspicious and abnormal." Aomine explained nonchalantly as if he was used to this.

Kori sat back down with a chilly yet forcefully clueless expression. "What day?"

Aomine flipped through a few papers in a folder before him. "The day that Tsukishiro Kuromi was almost killed… You forced me to wait for you at the store while you went off on an errand."

Kori laughed abruptly before glaring at him. "How is that abnormal?" He snarled.

"Hmmm…" Aomine propped up his right arm on the table so that he could lean his head against his right hand, narrowing his eyes as he watched his partner carefully. "It was a nice sunny day. Who were you delivering an umbrella and raincoat to?"

"My family, Aomine. They get pretty snarky when I don't bring their stuff back to them." Annoyance permeated his tone of voice.

"Oh? How odd." Aomine leaned back in his chair again. "That seems to differ from what your family members told me. They haven't seen you since the new year celebration."

"What...?" Kori stood up again. "That can't be! I met my cousin over there to give her the umbrella and raincoat before she left for Hokkaido!"

"So it's your cousin." The blue-haired male sneered. "But the problem is that your cousin's been missing since the day Tsukishiro Kuromi was almost killed."

Desperation tainted his voice. "Aomine-"

Aomine cut in mercilessly. "The direction that you went for your errand coincides with Tsukishiro-san's normal routine, but you claimed that you never saw her." He emphasized each word firmly.

Kori's tone turned exasperated. "She could have been one minute late. Besides, this is all circumstantial evidence." He calmly sat back down. "Aomine, you know the drill as my partner and as a fellow officer. Give me  _real_  evidence before you start spouting nonsense."

Ignoring his last few sentences, Aomine shook his head and focused on his statement about her being one minute late. "It's not possible that she was a minute late. The CCTV showed that Tsukishiro Kuromi would have at least passed you at the speed you were going and in the direction you were heading."

Kori leaned forward with a smile. "I have no motive."

That flipped a switch in Aomine as he slammed his hand against the table. "Motive, my ass. We had the great pleasure of checking your bank account." He took out a file and shoved it in Kori's face. "What is this huge amount of money being transferred to your account a few days after the incident? Seems to come from an overseas bank. This isn't a normal amount for a mere police officer."

"..." His partner remained silent before he spoke. "There are no witnesses nor are there any signs of me killing her, Aomine. Did you find my fingerprints? My blood? You can search my apartment and you'll find nothing."

"Stop acting like a novice. You know what we do for a living. You also know that when Tsukishiro Kuromi wakes up, you're done for." Aomine growled. "You're an embarrassment to the police. To think that you'd try to kill a woman for money."

This made Kori snap back at him angrily. "Aomine, you should watch yourself. The police aren't as pure as you think they are. We all fall eventually. This is my advice to you as someone who's been in this line of work for a while."

"What do you mean?" Aomine calmly questioned, finally regaining his composure.

"It means,  _you idiot_ , that your speculations and accusations will do you no good right now." His partner leveled his gaze at Aomine.

Aomine's eyes darkened. "You betrayed my trust in the worst possible way, Kori."

He shook his head. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"And yet you talk about how the police aren't as pure as I thought? When Prosecutor Shin began his investigation, he once told me that one can only speak from experience. Perhaps you're part of the problem that you speak of." Aomine shot back. "It's no wonder Prosecutor Shin's so adamant about taking apart the police to find these problem people all the damn time!"

"Shut it! You don't know anything, so don't you dare say such shit to me!" Kori snarled angrily. "Prosecutor Shin? What the hell does he know?! He's just an idiot who wants to overhaul the entire foundation of this country! Don't you dare judge me, Aomine Daiki!"

"Entire foundation? What the hell are you talking about, Kori?!" Aomine stood up, knocking back his chair and slamming his hands on the table. "Just who's behind you!? Who is it that can make you do these atrocious acts?!"

Kori snorted to himself as he calmed down. "No one."

"What-" Disbelief colored Aomine's voice.

Kori's shoulders relaxed. "After all, I haven't killed anyone."

Despite Kori's current body language, Aomine's intuition as an officer sounded alarms in his head. There was clearly something wrong here and he was going to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

Reimi stood in front of a coat rack and sighed. "The stupid live surgery on the ex-prime minister was today. Did we have to schedule that annoying dinner of all things on the same day, too?! Ungrateful bastard of a slug." Throwing her white coat at the coat rack, she grabbed her bag and swung the door open unhappily.

Once she exited the hospital, an expensive car stopped in front of her. A tall yet lean male was revealed when the windows rolled down. "Tsukishiro-san?"

Her eyebrow twitched as her fingernails dug into the skin of her palms. "Yes. Am I to presume that you are Aku Kyou, the director's son?" A polite smile hung on her face.

He smiled charismatically, unpleasantly reminding her of the director. "I am. Get in the car and we'll head to the restaurant."

Her stomach churned unpleasantly and her shoulders stiffened a little, but she opened the door and slid into the passenger seat, momentarily spotting Akashi from a distance. A little bit of guilt burned in her heart then, so she quickly turned her head and faced the streets instead. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Only a couple of minutes. It's one of my favorites near here." His car began moving away from the hospital at a decent speed. "I chose somewhere close since I know you have to go back to work right away."

"Hn…" She stared out the window, prompting an uncomfortable silence between the two. She then watched him through the corner of her eye. He appeared relaxed at first glance, but the tightness in his jaw indicated otherwise. His finger tapped against the steering wheel, indicating that he was nervous for some reason. While he was trying to play it cool, she saw through his facade in an instant.

"Well, we're here." He announced to her as he parked the car fluidly. She exited the vehicle and looked up at the fancy building, already hated this so-called date. "This way, Tsukishiro-san." He motioned for her to follow in a slightly condescending way. She found herself missing her partner and the rest of the hospital staff.

Absentmindedly, she entered the restaurant, finding herself surrounded by expensive vases and statues. Oil paintings were hanging on the walls of the waiting area. The rug was velvety and the walls were plastered with expensive and intricately designed wallpaper. Everything made her highly uncomfortable.

"Aku for two." He spoke to the waitress who then guided the two to their table. "Bring out your best wine and we'll both have the special."

Reimi twitched, holding in her anger. "Aku-san."

"Ah, please call me Kyou. Being called 'Aku-san' reminds me of my father."

Feeling a little vindictive, she smirked a little before neutralizing her expression. " _Aku-san_." She then saw the anger boiling in his eyes at her refusal to follow his words. "I will get straight to the point."

"Why don't we wait until after dinner?" Kyou suggested instead. "After all, it's my treat." If she could, she would have gouged his eyes out with a fork. Thinking that it would be useless to talk about it now, she merely nodded and kept to herself. When he attempted to pull her into conversation, she cut it short with her curt replies. Soon, the two fell into a tense silence.

"Here is our best wine, Aku-sama." The waitress brought out a chilled bottle of red wine.

"Good." He merely commented as she poured wine into his wineglass.

Reimi moved her glass to the side. "I can't have wine or any type of alcohol when on duty at the hospital. Please do not pour me any."

"Of course." The waitress then backed off and left the area to give them privacy.

When he realized that she was going to remain rigid and reserved, he decided to just enjoy his wine while she looked elsewhere. Even as they ate through their seven course meal, she still kept to herself through it all.

His fingers tightened around his utensils. Reimi observed carefully, noting his cold gaze and tight smile. He was obviously irritated at her disobedience towards him by giving him the silent treatment. She knew that the moment she let her guard down and let him have his way, she would lose all control over the situation. She would not let him have his way.

When dessert was finally served, she placed her fork down and finally spoke. "I have no intention of continuing our meetings. Quite frankly, I do not want to marry you."

"Is it because of the rumors?"

"The rumors…?" She leaned back into her chair, watching him carefully.

"There are rumors that say that I'm known for abusing my lovers… and for being psychopathic." He said nonchalantly.

"Is that so…?"

"It's pretty well-known. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it."

"I have better things to do than spend my time gossiping with others." Reimi kept her face neutral.

Kyou's smile froze. "Then why is it that you don't want to marry me?"

"Simply because I do not like you. Is that not a good enough reason?" She answered with no hesitation whatsoever.

He snorted in disbelief. "We've barely been together for more than a few hours at most. How can you come to dislike me in these short hours?"

She stood up, ready to get this over with. "Since you told me that it's your treat, I shall treat it as such. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to work now." Grabbing her bag, she headed for the exit.

"I can take you back."

She refused. "No. I can take a cab. It's only a short distance away." Without allowing him to retort, she left the building.

His eyes burned with rage. The hand that held the wineglass shook and when his grip on it tightened, it shattered, causing glass to fly everywhere. Wine dripped down from his now-bleeding hand. The waitress flinched and watched him with wary eyes from a safe distance away. He slammed his hand against the table. He glared at the door, not willing to accept the way she had treated him. "How dare she…"

Outside, Reimi was hailing a cab when her stomach churned uncomfortably. "I shouldn't have eaten anything from there."

When a vehicle stopped in front of her, she rubbed her stomach before entering the cab. "To the hospital please."

"Yes, ma'am."


	12. Chapter 12

The interrogation room's ceiling light flickered a little as Kori sat silently in a chair, lightly scratching at his fingers boredly. After some time had passed by, he sighed and stood up, knocking on the door to get the attention of the guard stationed outside.

"Can I make a call?" Aomine's partner asked once the guard opened the door to check on him. "I want to contact someone important to me."

The guard hesitated and scratched at his chin nervously. "Well… I'm not exactly allowed to…"

Kori groaned and tugged at the guard's uniform sleeve. "I helped you out with the Shibuya murder case. Can't you just turn a blind eye to this?"

"But-" The guard looked away, unsure of what to do.

"Please. I'm begging you. Just one phone call and that's all." Kori pleaded with him.

The guard's eyes shifted nervously as he checked to make sure the hallways were empty. "Alright. Fine. Just one phone call." Since the hallways were silent and void of human presence, the guard shoved the cell phone from his pocket to Kori. "Hurry up."

Relief pooled in Kori's eyes. "Thank you." Kori then carefully closed the door and dialed a number as he stiffly sat down in the chair he had been occupying earlier. Receiving no response, he dialed again, repeating this process a couple more times.

When someone finally answered, the voice sounded scratchy and immensely irritated. " _What do you want?_ "

Kori faced away from the CCTV to give himself a little privacy. He whispered into the phone. "I didn't think I would get caught. What do I do?"

" _That's your own problem. Deal with it yourself. In this case, you have to take the fall by yourself._ "

"You know that I can bring you down with me, don't you?" He sneered, hoping that it would shake the will of the other person.

" _You're a hundred years too early to be threatening me. Your family, your lover, and everyone else that you care about… Don't you care about their safety?_ " The other side continued to talk. " _If you still care, then shut up and die by yourself._ " Before Kori could respond to this, the other person promptly ended the call.

"I'll keep quiet…" He murmured, slumping in his seat. "Just give me..." He trailed off, allowing silence to fill the room.

A few minutes later, he got up to return the phone back to the guard outside and sat back down in his chair with an empty expression on his face.

* * *

"The person in the shadows has already abandoned you. They won't help you now so spill it. Don't you want to bring them down with you? That way, you can lessen your sentence a little." Aomine watched as his partner remained quiet. It frustrated him to no end.

"Why are you suddenly so quiet? Before, you were at least a little more talkative." He questioned, attempting to rouse Kori out of his silence. Kori did not take the bait.

"If you want to play the silent game, then go ahead. We'll see how long you last." Kori sat in his seat as if he was a motionless doll. Only when his stomach suddenly grumbled did his body twitch slightly.

Aomine sighed then and stood up from his seat. "We'll order some food for you. Do you want anything?"

"Katsudon." Kori finally broke his silence to give his answer.

"Alright. The guard outside will order it for you." Aomine left the room, relaying Kori's food preference to the guard on his way out.

Once Aomine reached the office for the Criminal Investigation First Division, he and everyone else in the room stood up as one to greet the police chief who had just arrived. "Greetings to the police chief." Everyone then bowed in unison.

"Officer Aomine, how are the interrogations going?" The chief asked him firmly.

"He's staying silent… which is weird."

"What's wrong?"

"Before, he would at least respond to me, but now? Not one peep from him. I only got him to say what he wanted to eat." Aomine's eyes narrowed. "Something must've happened to cause this change."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll do fine. Inform me immediately once he confesses or reveals important information on the corruption case." He gave Aomine's shoulder a pat. "You should go eat some lunch before continuing. We can't have you guys running yourself ragged, now can we?"

"Yes, sir." He bowed to the chief. The higher-up patted Aomine's shoulder again before departing.

"Okay, everyone! You heard the chief! Let's get some food before continuing!" The team leader announced, clapping his hands for attention. Everyone cheered as they headed out for lunch. Aomine momentarily glanced back in the direction of the interrogation room before joining everyone else.

* * *

"I brought one order of katsudon." A lean male announced to the guard. His face was partially shadowed by the cap he was wearing. He also had a medical mask on for which its purpose made obvious when he coughed every now and then. The metal box he was carrying was cold to the touch. The delivery man's outfit pretty much consisted of one color: black.

Before letting him into the room, the guard patted him down to check if he had any weapons on his person before opening the door. "You can go in."

"Thank you. I will be right out." He murmured, entering the room and allowing the door to shut behind him with an ominous click.

Kori did not bother to face the delivery man. "You can just leave it on top of the table." He mumbled, not noticing the delivery man silently place the metal box he was carrying onto the floor before methodically pulling on a pair of latex gloves.

" _Of course_."

Kori froze in his seat, a look of absolute horror crossing his face. He started to breathe heavily as his hands started to shake, slowly turning his head to face the person who he had hoped to never see again. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he finally voiced the question that was spinning in his mind. "Why are  _you_  here?"

"Why am I here?" The not-delivery-man sneered as he picked up the metal box from the floor and swiftly placed it on top of the table, making no noise throughout the entire transition. "What do  _you_  think?" He asked as he snapped the door of the metal box open, pulling out a steaming bowl of katsudon and placing it on top of the table. The man then placed one gloved hand inside the box, touching the back before swiftly retrieving his hand and shutting the box.

Kori shuddered, his eyes quivering in intense fear. He shakily stood up from his chair, backing away from the other. The masked man took a step towards him. "I said I'd keep quiet. I said I'd-"

He was interrupted by a kick to the abdomen, causing him to slam into the wall behind him. He groaned in pain at the sudden attack but his attention was quickly drawn to a glint in the dim room. When he realized where the glint was coming from, Kori felt his insides freeze despite the burning pain from the kick earlier. "P-please… I can still be useful to him… I haven't revealed anything!"

Faster than Kori's eyes could follow, the man slashed at his victim's neck with the small dagger in his hand.

"This way, you can stay silent, _in the land of the dead._ " The assassin scoffed as he looked down at Kori's crumpled form, watching his victim lose consciousness within seconds. Ignoring the pool of blood rapidly forming on the floor, he pulled off his blood-splattered gloves, opened the metal box, and tossed them inside. Pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket, he used it to wipe away any visible signs of blood splatter on himself before also placing that into the box. Closing the door of the box, he grasped the metal box by its handle and picked it up off the table before casually walking out of the room and greeting the guard on his way out.

As he walked out of the building, the assassin pulled down his mask, revealing a pleased smirk.

"Hey, are you eating well, Kori-san?" The guard opened the door to check on Kori before yelping in surprise as his eyes immediately took in the bloodied wall on the far end of the room before noticing Kori's fallen state. "KORI-SAN!" He ran towards the bleeding man before crouching down, pressing one hand firmly on the life-threatening wound on Kori's neck in an attempt to prevent further blood loss.

The guard shakily pulled out his walkie-talkie with his other hand then. "Emergency. Kori-san is severely bleeding from the neck. I'm pressing down on the cut to stop more blood from coming out, but I NEED AN AMBULANCE NOW!"

" _Understood. Someone is calling the ambulance right now._ "

"And I think we need someone to capture the delivery man from earlier. When I checked him, I didn't find any weapons during the pat-down, but it could have been hidden in the metal box he brought the food in. Find him! He's wearing almost all black, including a black vest, along with a cap and medical mask. I think he's the one who attacked Kori-san!"

" _We will check the CCTV recordings and also send more men out to capture the possible suspect immediately._ "

The guard abandoned his walkie-talkie at the reply, focusing solely on stopping the blood from spilling out of Kori's wound. "You'll survive, Kori-san. I'll make sure of it."

* * *

"What is the meaning of this, Prosecutor Shin!? You're only responsible for dealing with the corruption case, aren't you?" The police chief slammed his fist against the table.

"Considering our main suspect and important witness was almost killed under the police's watch, we will investigate anything tied to Kori-san from here on out. We will not interfere with the police's investigation on the attempted murder of Tsukishiro Kuromi but everything else will be under our jurisdiction." The prosecutor stood tall, showing he would not persuaded by the chief's words.

The chief grunted. "Fine. I'll let your chief know whether Kori-san survives or not."

"Of course. We shall take our leave now." Shin bowed before exiting the room with his inspector and secretary.

* * *

"Although we managed to save him in time, we still need to keep a close eye on his condition." Reimi informed Nurse Awa and a police guard.

"How long will it take for him to wake up, Tsukishiro?" Aomine asked as he approached the three.

"I'm not sure right now. It depends on what happens by the end of tonight." Reimi touched her lips with her fingers, deep in thought. "Kori-san also had a concussion, so even if he were to wake up soon, his mind would be fuzzy for about a week or two."

"Well, when he does wake up, can you give me a call?"

"Not a problem. I'll be sure to give you any updates on any changes in his condition." Reimi wrote a few notes on Kori's chart before sliding it back into its designated pocket attached to the hospital bed.

"Thanks. I'm going to leave now." He turned towards the guard. "Keep him safe. I'm depending on you."

"Yes sir!" The guard bowed and watched the tanned male leave before taking his place near the entrance of the hospital room. Reimi and Nurse Awa also exited the room.

"Awa-san, can you check on the others next door? I'm going to do a last check on Kori-san before heading over."

"Got it! Leave it to me!" Nurse Awa headed towards the room next door. Before Reimi could enter Kori's room again, a group of three people approached the guard outside Kori's room. The male, who appeared to be in charge, seemed to be arguing with the guard. From the group's formal attire along with the brief explanation Aomine had given you regarding Kori's circumstances, Reimi concluded that the man was a prosecutor.

"Is something the matter?" She cut in between the two, standing in front of the guard as she faced the prosecutor. "Unfortunately,  _no one_  can see the patient at this time. Please come again when he is awake and stable."

The prosecutor heard the dismissal in her voice and twitched. "Fine. We'll just come again."

"Of course." Once Reimi watched the prosecutor leave, she sighed and entered the room.

She checked his vitals and the medication being given to him. When she glanced at his curled fists, she touched them lightly with her hands. "It's strange how he won't let go… Even during anaesthesia, he kept his hands like this."

"D-doctor…" A frail voice suddenly called out.

"Kori-san? Can you hear me?" Reimi asked, checking his eyes and attentiveness. She felt his hand grab hers. There was something in his hand. "What…?"

"Take this… Don't have long… Keep it for yourself…" She took the item from him, slipping it into her pocket.

"What do you mean…?" She asked as her eyes darted about, keeping an attentive eye on his vitals.

"Open it after I die." He coughed. "If I manage to live though, keep it safe for me until then."

The fact that he could articulate properly was a good sign, but he slowly fell into a delirious state. "Safe… Killed… I…" His eyes glazed over as he fell unconscious.

"A flash drive…" She pulled out the item he had given her, turning it over in her hand once as she examined it before slipping it back into her pocket. According to Aomine, Kori was an important suspect and witness of a corruption case, so she could not afford to let him be killed. She had a feeling Aomine was not telling her the entire truth, but she figured it must be classified information. She watched the patient sleep as she thought about the next step she should take. "Perhaps I should talk to Akashi about this later…" Then she cringed, recalling her schedule for the rest of the day. "Hopefully, I won't forget..."

* * *

"How is the patient the police brought in?" Akashi asked as he walked together with Reimi along the hallway.

"He's been convulsing a lot… He woke a little after the surgery but went back to sleep. I'm honestly a little worried about him. Perhaps I should go check on him again right now." Reimi sighed, ruffling her hair in frustration.

He chuckled to himself. "That would be a good idea. I'll meet you there then. I just need to check on one last patient of mine."

"Sounds good to me. I'll see you in a couple of minutes then." She waved at him before heading to Kori's room. She greeted the guard outside pleasantly before sliding the door open to the room.

The moment she slid the door shut behind her, her eyes were drawn immediately to a figure hovering over the patient. They wore a typical white coat and a scrub outfit. However, they were holding a syringe in their hand and wearing a mask, arousing Reimi's suspicion. "Who the hell are you?" Her voice hardened immediately as she trained her eyes on them, knocking on the door behind her to alert the guard stationed outside.

"Take a step away from him." Reimi approached the frozen figure. She heard the door behind her slide open, signifying the arrival of the guard. Through the corner of her eye, she briefly spotted the baton the guard had out. The figure still did not move. When the guard moved in front of Reimi, she slowly headed for the security button in the room.

Within seconds, the figure twirled around, kicking the guard in the stomach before wrestling the baton away from him. He slammed it against the guard's head, simultaneously rendering him unconscious and making him hit the wall. Blood trickled down the side of the guard's face.

Realizing she was alone against the assailant, Reimi darted towards the button, but the attacker slammed her against the wall, effectively pinning her there. Reimi glared defiantly at the man, promptly kicking him in the groin. He flinched in pain, dropping the baton and allowing her to kick it away from them. Before she could do anything else, however, he pinned her against the wall once more with one hand holding her arm and his legs tangling with hers. She saw the syringe in his hand again, prompting her to grab his wrist as she struggled to stop him from stabbing her with it.

"Damn.. it… all." She cursed under her breath as she watched the syringe gradually getting closer to her, showing that this was a losing battle for her. Her hand was rapidly losing strength as well. "Not… going… to die… here… Urgh." Her head pounded as her mind frantically whirred, trying to desperately come up with ways to get out of the current situation. The needle was so close to her now. She clenched her teeth, bracing herself for the inevitable.

"Where's the guard, Aomine?" She heard Akashi's voice echo through the hallway right outside.

Seeing this as her chance, she used her last energy to scream. "HELP!"

When the attacker started to use more strength in response to her shout, she saw Aomine dash into the room and kick the male away from her. With her back against the wall, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor as she breathed heavily from her earlier exertion. Akashi rushed over to her to check on her vitals, intentionally putting his body in between her and the assailant as he kept a hand on each of her shoulders. Determining that Reimi was physically fine, he turned his head to watch Aomine fight against the male. The syringe rolled onto the floor to the other side of the room.

"Are you okay, Tsukishiro-san?" Akashi asked her quietly, not taking his eyes off of the fight.

"I… I think so. I should be fine." She leaned against him, holding onto his coat tightly. Taking a wary glance at the ongoing fight, she closed the short distance to her initial objective by crawling away from Akashi, slamming her hand against the security button. An alert sounded through the room.

Aomine paid no heed to it as he threw a punch at the man. "Let's see your damn face!" He tried to rip the mask off of the man, but he dodged in the nick of time.

"We'll meet again, Officer, but next time, it'll be your death." The assaulter muttered before taking out a dagger and swiping it dangerously in front of him, preventing Aomine from closing the distance between them. Taking the opportunity, the man fled the room with Aomine hot on his heels.

"I need to check the patient and the guard." Reimi stood up from the floor, walking over to Kori and checking his condition. She sighed in relief. "Thankfully, they didn't manage to do anything to him yet." She then went to check on the unconscious guard who Akashi was already looking over. Together, they completed first aid on the man. When other hospital personnel came to move the guard and check on his other injuries, she slumped down against the wall, losing all energy in her legs.

She felt tired of everything already and it was only the beginning. Rubbing the area between her eyebrows, she sighed again. "Ugh, I need sleep." Akashi quietly knelt on one knee and squeezed her shoulder in comfort. She attempted a smile then but she had a feeling it looked more like a grimace. "I'll be fine… Probably."

Akashi spotted the bruise on her wrist. He held her wrist gently, examining the damage. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really… I might need some pain relieving cream though." She stared down at her wrist with a blank expression.

"Let's go see if you have any other injuries." He helped her up and smiled warmly. "Then we can get lunch together."

Reimi smiled brightly at the mention of food. "That already sounds wonderful. I want to eat something with rice now."

"And not noodles?" He quirked his eyebrow.

She confirmed. "Not noodles."

"Alright, let's go then." They began walking down the hallway.

In a good mood again, she hummed to herself as Akashi shook his head in amusement, suddenly reminded of a certain purple-haired giant.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOLD ITALICS - memory

"Based on the test results, we highly suspect that the patient has liver cancer." The head nurse informed Akashi. He clasped his hands together in front of his face with a faraway look in his eyes.

"I should have known…"

* * *

" _ **Seijuurou."**_

" _ **Yes, Father." A younger Akashi stood by his father's bed. Akashi had just started his last year of high school, but the Rakuzan High School uniform he was wearing looked pristine as ever.**_

" _ **Your uncle took care of the false charges that forced us to file for bankruptcy, has he not?" The voice that used to sound strong was weak.**_

" _ **He has. The company will officially dissipate once I graduate, forcing the file for bankruptcy to dissolve."**_

" _ **..." His father glanced tiredly at him. "Have I disappointed you, Seijuurou?"**_

" _ **No, you have not." Akashi said calmly. "The bankruptcy only occurred because of the perpetrator. You have taken the necessary steps to protect everyone in the company, Father. I have nothing to be disappointed or ashamed about."**_

" _ **That… That's good." His father looked up at the ceiling as he spoke. "After I die, my inheritance to you and your own savings should be enough to cover your living expenses and tuition for your education for a long while. You must live comfortably with that money and gain more power as a member of the Akashi family on your own. We must broaden our network of connections."**_

" _ **Yes."**_

_**His father felt his eyelids becoming heavier by the minute. "Seijuurou, you must be perfect. You must not show any signs of weakness. You mustn't experience what I went through."** _

" _ **...Father…?"**_

" _ **I am weak." Akashi's father closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. "It is my incompetence that led to the death of my wife... your mother. If I had been stronger… Perhaps…"**_

" _ **Father…" Akashi stood quietly as he watched his father become weaker from his terminal illness.**_

" _ **Liver cancer…" His father smiled sadly. "Is that my punishment, I wonder…?" He had stage four liver cancer. There was no way for him to survive that. "Seijuurou, when I die, I want you to personally go through my files and folders. There is one in particular that you must look at after I die." His hand opened to reveal a single key resting in the middle of his palm. "There will be one drawer that is locked. I need you to keep that file safe for me. Don't let anyone else touch it. Take it."**_

" _ **Yes, Father." Akashi gently took the key from him, slipping it into his pocket for safekeeping. "I will keep it safe."**_

" _ **Thank you, Seijuurou… and I'm sorry."**_

" _ **There is nothing to apologize for." He assured his father who went back to sleep.**_

* * *

"So Doctor, I have liver cancer…?" The man shrunk into his seat.

Akashi snapped out of his thoughts. "Yes, but you are in luck."

"I… I am?" He looked confused.

"Yes. While you might need to get checkups every year and perhaps another surgery, your liver is healthy enough to grow back and work normally if we remove a lobe of the liver. Basically, we will remove the part of your liver that has the cancer."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes. Since the cancer has not spread to any major blood vessels and is small enough to be removed, getting a lobectomy done is ideal. It's a big surgery, but that is your best bet. We can also do chemoembolization after the surgery to prevent any other tumors from forming in your liver. Of course, there is always a chance of relapse if it ends up affecting your major blood vessels."

"So after I have the surgery, most - if not all - of the tumor should be removed from my body… and then the chemo thing you mentioned will help me live longer and hopefully prevent the cancer from coming back?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then… Then I'll do it. As long as I get to live longer…" The man sat up a little taller and tried to smile confidently.

"In that case, I'll transfer you to a cancer specialist who can discuss with you the options that you have for your treatment. A surgeon who specializes in this type of surgery should also meet with you afterwards." He scribbled a note and called in the head nurse. After leading the two out of his office, Akashi sat back down on his chair and leaned back to relax.

"Liver cancer, huh…" He rested his arm over his eyes as he used the short time he had left to relax before going on his rounds again.

* * *

" _ **Rei-chan." Reimi's father was sitting in a chair at a table. His light silver hair was cut short and his dark purple eyes were warm as he took in the sight of his daughter.**_

" _ **Yes, Dad?" She was busy eating the food set out in front of her. Her silver hair was tied back.**_

" _ **How is your second year as a general surgeon in the ER?"**_

" _ **Augh." She groaned before swallowing. "It's a disaster. I wish I stayed on the path of becoming a public health physician, like Doctor Schweitzer."**_

_**He laughed heartily. "But I thought you found surgery to be stimulating for your brain and quite interesting to learn about."** _

" _ **Oh, it is, but it's tiring and stressful. I probably lost ten years of my life from all the stress and lack of sleep." She pouted, crossing her arms as if to express her exasperation and displeasure about the living conditions in the ER.**_

" _ **Even if it's stressful now, I hope you will still live happily and perhaps even accept love into your life."**_

_**She scoffed at his words. "Love… When did that ever factor into someone's happiness? I don't need love. When did love ever improve my life?" Bitterness seeped into her voice, becoming more apparent with each word she spoke.** _

_**Her father flinched a little before smiling sadly at her. "I'm sorry… I know that I haven't been the best dad to you, but-"** _

" _ **It's fine. Let's drop it, Dad. There's no point in talking about the past since it's not like we can change anything." Reimi then decisively returned to eating her meal.**_

" _ **Alright." He acquiesced to her request before digging into his own food.**_

* * *

" _ **No, I won't let you die. You can't die on me, Dad!" Reimi continued her chest compressions. "Please Dad. Wake up!"**_

" _ **The cardio defibrillation is ready!" A nurse announced as she finished setting up the necessary equipment.**_

_**Reimi grabbed the handheld paddle electrodes. "Clear!" Everyone backed off. "Shock!" She placed it down on her father's chest. The shock caused his body to lift up from the bed before slumping back down. She continued the compressions while checking the vitals that stubbornly remained at zero. "Increase the voltage!"** _

" _ **Ready!"**_

" _ **Clear! Shock!" Reimi continued relentlessly.**_

_**The nurses around her watched over her with sad expressions. "Someone, stop her…"** _

_**Finally, another doctor entered the room and forcefully pulled her away from her father. "It's over, Tsukishiro-sensei… It's over."** _

_**She remained silent as she stood still, processing his words slowly. As if in a daze, she then checked the time. "Time of death is 4:49pm."** _

" _ **You don't need to do that." The doctor said to her quietly. She finally slumped down as the long flat piercing sound of the heart monitor rang in her ears until a nurse turned it off.**_

" _ **Why did he die?" She asked the doctor in a small voice.**_

" _ **A heart attack as you already know, but we presume that the heart attack only happened because of his coronary heart disease." He paused here before continuing. "He apparently had treatment for this for a while now."**_

" _ **Coronary- When…?" She stared down at the floor lifelessly. "For a while…?"**_

_**He realized then that she had not known about it and provided more information. "We believe that it developed due to ischemic vascular disease."** _

" _ **Vascular… Do you mean atherosclerosis?"**_

" _ **Yes."**_

" _ **If I had noticed earlier… If I had seen the symptoms when we met up… Then he could have-" She muttered to herself as despair mounted. "I'm a failure as a doctor and as his daughter…" A part of her slowly crumbled until nothingness. She felt dead inside.**_

* * *

"We believe that you have ischemic vascular disease." Reimi calmly informed her patient.

"Ischemic… What?" The lady whipped her head up to face her with an incredulous look.

"Ischemic vascular disease." She repeated.

The patient leaned back into her chair, crossing her arms and legs. "And what is that exactly?"

"It's a buildup of plaque inside your blood vessels, causing them to restrict normal blood flow. When it builds up in the arteries, you get a condition called atherosclerosis. That can then affect any artery in the body." Reimi glanced at the patient's chart. "I see that you smoke a lot and eat a lot of sugar."

"So?"

"We'll need you to lessen the amount of smoking by at least half and then hopefully, to only once in awhile or never." She jotted a note down onto the chart. "Try to also eat less sugary foods and start exercising a more. As long as you follow a healthy diet, it should lessen the buildup of plaque. Your weight is at a healthy number, so try to maintain it."

"Do I have to stop smoking, Doctor? Do I really need to?" The patient asked desperately.

"It would help a lot if you stop smoking. I'll also prescribe you some medication that will control your high blood pressure and cholesterol along with some that prevent blood clots."

The patient grumbled in her seat before standing up, accepting the prescription note Reimi handed her. "The nurse outside will inform you of the steps you need to take to keep your disease under control and to avoid serious problems like a heart attack or stroke."

"Thank you very much for your time, Doctor." The patient bowed to Reimi before exiting the room.

After the patient left, Reimi then stood up and left for Akashi's room. Knocking on his door, she heard his voice from the inside. "Come in."

"Akashi-sensei, I heard that you finally chose a specialization." Reimi said as she entered with a smile.

"That's fast. I only announced it this morning." Akashi leaned back into his chair. "Are you only here to congratulate me?"

"Is that a problem?" She grinned before handing him a medium-sized cup of coffee. "Thought you might need this since cardiac surgery is so difficult."

"It'll be a nice challenge." He acknowledged.

"Indeed." She sat in the chair across from him.

He took a sip from the hot coffee as a smile spread across his face. "This'll help."

"Good." She looked at him warmly as they sat in comfortable silence, reveling in the cozy atmosphere between them.


	14. Chapter 14

"You're the only one we can depend on, Gen-san." A young woman with long pink hair followed a middle-aged man inside his apartment as he grumbled about people not leaving him alone. Once the door closed behind her, Momoi examined the interior. Empty bottles and cans of alcohol sat in neatly organized lines by the walls. The kitchen was sparse aside from a small trash bag filled with empty convenience store food containers. The air was stale, a clear indication of how long the trash had been sitting there and how often he aired out the apartment.

Gen's clothes were wrinkled and faded. Though it was clear he practiced good personal hygiene, his appearance was ragged and shabby. It was a stark contrast from his looks sixteen years ago when he worked at a hospital as a secretary under its director. During that period of time, he had worn a clean suit and had short cut hair, opting for a neat and professional appearance and leaving casual clothing in storage. Now, his hair was messily grown out and he wore clothes that could be considered sleepwear.

"Why can't you bother the others? I'm sure you can find them." He plucked an empty bottle off the only table in the room and tossed it into the trash before sitting down on top of his bed, offering her the only chair he had. She thanked him and took the seat.

"That might be true, but it's difficult… with everyone hiding…"

"You can't blame us for hiding. After we all heard the news of Rei-san's sudden death, we knew then that the director was silencing people for some reason. Rei-san was perfectly healthy and had no reason to pass away so suddenly otherwise." He sighed. " _Jou-chan_. While I appreciate having company over, my safety is at risk with you being here. Please leave."

"If you could just tell me what happened sixteen years ago at the hospital, I-"

"I won't say anything else,  _jou-chan_ , so please leave." He turned his head away from her, a clear sign that he was determined to keep his silence.

She sighed before standing. "If you ever decide to change your mind, please contact the number on this business card. I'll leave it on top of the table for you." Glancing at him one last time, she placed a card on top of the worn table before she reluctantly departed.

* * *

"Of all the things…" Gen grumbled as he exited a convenience store with his food for the night. "Why can't people just shut up nowadays…"

He sighed every now and then on the way back to his apartment. Once he reached the front door, he fumbled for his keys.

"Ah, here they are." He finally unlocked the door and entered. He blindly reached around for the light switch before succeeding in turning on the lights, squinting his eyes as they adjusted to the sudden change in light.

His heart froze for a brief moment as he examined the state of the apartment. The trash from his kitchen was scattered everywhere and the little furniture he owned was turned over. The cupboards and drawers were all haphazardly open as well with the interior ransacked. When he finally mustered up the courage to cross the entranceway with his shoes still on, he yelped in surprise as he jumped back, tripping on his feet and dropping his dinner as his back hit the closed front door. "What-"

[ _SILENCE_ ]

It was the only word carved into the wall, clearly done with a small knife or dagger. Gen appeared to be unable to rip his gaze away from the word as he slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor.

"They found me.  _They found me._  I'm going to die!" Gen suddenly came to life as he desperately scrambled to the other side of the room, scrabbling the insides of drawers and coming up empty before finally digging around in his pockets and pulling out another set of keys.

" _I can't_. I can't die yet!" He muttered to himself as he rushed out of his apartment. "I still have time."

* * *

"Please mail this immediately." Gen handed a small box to the postal worker behind the counter.

"Of course. It will be delivered by the end of tomorrow at the latest." They informed him as they accepted the box and his payment. Gen just nodded and left the office in a hurry.

Pulling out a business card from his wallet, he quickly dialed the number on it with his cellphone. "Hello?"

" _Yes, this is Momoi Satsuki. Who is this?_ "

"This is Gen."

" _Gen-san! Have you decided?_ "

"I want to give you something… Something important. If you can promise my safety, I'll also give you my testimony of everything that happened sixteen years ago." He said nervously, looking around with paranoia.

" _Thank you so much! I know that it must have been a hard decision to make, but I will guarantee your safety. Now, what did you want to give me?_ "

"It's just a key. To a coin locker."

" _Understood. Then let's meet at-_ " As they finished setting up the time and place, the ex-secretary ended the call and began hurrying towards the meeting place in advance.

* * *

The sky was turning dark, approaching dusk. Momoi's boots crossed the muddy ground with ease. The wind was harsh as it violently shook the leaves of the surrounding trees, creating a loud rustling noise around her. From afar, she could just barely make out the edge of a table out on the deck behind the lone convenience store she was approaching. A light flickered inside the store, showing that nobody was inside. It was only until a few moments later that she noticed a worker inside. She continued her brisk walk towards the building but was interrupted when her cell phone rang.

"Gen-san…?" Finding it odd as she checked the caller name, she took the call. "Gen-san, I'm almost there."

" _Good. Could you hurry it up? I'm behind the convenience store. It's cold here!_ " His cranky voice could be heard clearly.

She laughed a little. "Don't worry. I'll be there in a minute."

" _Minute, my-_ " The call was interrupted by the sharp sound of something hitting the floor. " _You! You're-_ "

"Gen-san…?" Momoi called out worriedly as a chill went up her spine.

" _Augh! I-_ " She heard something heavy fall to the ground, most likely the sound of a body hitting the floor. " _You'll never find it._ " A hint of laughter came from Gen's strained voice. " _I'll never forgive-_ "

"Gen-san!" Momoi dashed across the short distance to the building, leaping over the small set of stairs and bracing herself for the scene that awaited her at the back deck. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she stiffened, preparing herself for an attack.

Only a pool of blood was left on the floor. Her legs lost all energy as she dropped to her knees in disbelief. Gen's cell phone was on the ground on its side, still open. The light from its screen illuminated the pool of blood eerily. "Gen-san… This much blood means…" She did not want to think about it, but she knew that Gen was most likely dead. It would take a miracle to find him alive at this point.

She slammed her hand against the floor in frustration once before getting up off the cold floor. She then called her partner on her cell phone to call for reinforcements before proceeding to look for the key that Gen was supposed to give her while she waited.

"Since he said to the culprit that he won't ever find it… He must have hidden it somewhere around here…" She checked every corner of the store and the deck but to no avail. "It's nowhere to be found."

She sighed in disappointment before shaking her head to dispel it. "No, I need to find it. It might be our last chance."

* * *

Reimi heard a knock on the door. "Come in." She did not look up from her work as the person entered. A waft of delicious food permeated the air, causing her to look up with a pleased smile. "Smells good. Dinner?"

"I thought you probably forgot to eat dinner again, so I brought it." Akashi put down a bowl of  _oyakodon_  and chopsticks on the table.

"I did. You have impeccable timing, Akashi-sensei." She hurriedly grabbed the chopsticks and gave her thanks before taking a bite. "Mmm…" Her head tilted to the side, indicating her happiness towards how it tasted. "So good…"

"You're finished with your rounds now, right?" He asked.

"Yes. I don't have a night shift either, so I'm finally free for the day." She stretched her arms out and then continued to eat her meal. "You also don't have any night shifts today, right?"

"Yes." He sat in the seat across from her.

"Then do you want to head home together?" She suggested nonchalantly.

After he nodded in agreement, she finished her food silently. Akashi went ahead as she made preparations to leave, finally grabbing her bag and taking off her white coat as she headed for the door.

Akashi was leaning against the wall at the entrance of her office. "Shall we go?"

"Ready." She confirmed.

As they exited the hospital, a familiar car stopped near them. "Tsukishiro-san!"

Immediately recognizing the voice, she pointedly ignored the person calling after her despite Akashi's questioning look. "No one of importance. Don't look at them and just keep walking." She slightly tugged at his arm sleeve so that he would get the point.

The door to the car opened and footsteps rapidly approached them from behind. Reimi dodged the hand that reached out to grab her from behind in the nick of time.

"I thought I made it very clear the last time we met. I am not interested in you and I dislike you. Stop bothering me,  _Aku-san_." Reimi whirled around as she trained her glare on the director's son.

"I can take you home. Since you're tired, wouldn't it be better to just take the car with me?" The smile on Kyou's face was tight, indicating that he was displeased by her words. His eyes flickered with uncontrollable and unpredictable danger. He took a step towards her, causing her to take a step back. Her posture was slowly morphing into a defensive position.

"I refuse. I'd rather spend time walking for a couple of minutes with my coworker than spend even a millisecond of my time with you." She snarled.

His hands curled into subtly shaking fists. "Is that so…? Playing hard to get isn't beneficial to you,  _Tsukishiro-san_."

"You're obviously delusional. I'm almost inclined to believe those rumors about you."

His eyebrow twitched as his facade slowly evaporated. The dark shadow that lingered in his expression became more apparent. "You do not want to test me, woman."

"If you'll excuse us, we will take our leave now. Sleep is much needed for surgeons." She turned on her heel and almost dragged Akashi away with her in order to get away from Kyou.

* * *

"Tsukishiro-sensei, do you understand my words?" The director's eyes showed how displeased he was with her. "You  _will_  continue to meet with my son. Is that understood?"

"With no disrespect, sir. I do not wish to marry your son, so why is it that you're forcing me to meet him when we do not match?" Reimi controlled her expression carefully, neutralizing any signs of anger and simmering dislike on her face.

"It doesn't matter if you do not like my son, Tsukishiro-sensei. If you do not wish to exit the medical field permanently, I suggest you to do as I say." He warned with a cold smile.

"I already told you that if I do not like him in that way, then I will not continue to meet him in such a setting." Hints of frustration lingered in her voice. "It's my personal life, sir. I do not believe that you have the right to interfere in such matters as my employer."

"It's your choice, Tsukishiro-sensei." His face never changed.

Her hands stiffened and shook a little, thanks to the extreme effort she was exerting in order to prevent them from curling into tight fists. "Of course, sir."

* * *

Reimi yelped when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the side. The sickening strong smell of roses overwhelmed her sense of smell. "What-"

A hand slammed against the wall next to her head. She flinched. "These are for you,  _Reimi-san_. Roses. Quite fitting for such a beauty like you."

"What do you think you're doing,  _Aku-san_?" She coolly said as she forced herself to detach from her emotions in order to calm down.

"Giving you a gift obviously." He sneered down at her. She felt a sickening shiver go down her spine as he shifted his mouth near her ear, bringing his voice down to a whisper. "You can't escape from me anymore… unless you want to suffer the consequences." He then backed away from her, tossing the bouquet at her. A thorn scratched her cheek, causing little beads of blood to trickle down her face. She let the flowers fall to the ground, making no effort to catch them.

Reimi kept her face neutral, releasing tight fists into loose and almost relaxed hands. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The end of his lip twitched in annoyance. "I'm pretty sure that Father explained it to you."

"Is that so? And what is it that he needed to explain to me?" She decided then that for her own sanity, she would slowly drive this man to dislike her presence completely. Perhaps that would make him lose his disgusting fascination towards her.

He kicked the bouquet to the side and took a step towards her. She also took a step to the side in order to avoid getting trapped by him again. "There's no need to avoid me,  _Reimi-san_."

"I never gave you permission to use my first name." She warned him, ready to lash out if he tried anything suspicious.

" _Reimi-san_ , I believe that we're past last name basis." His lips curled upwards and he laughed. There was  _something_  in his voice that sickened her to the core.

"Tsukishiro-sensei!" Akashi's voice rang out, causing the two to look in his direction as he walked into the scene, the epitome of calm. However, something glinted in his eyes, causing a shift in the air. It was almost as though the role of predator had switched from Kyou to Akashi then.

Kyou clicked his tongue in displeasure. "How annoying."

Relief pooled into her eyes as she straightened her back. "What is it, Akashi-sensei?"

"We were looking for you. There's an emergency surgery. We've been assigned to it since nobody else is available." He stopped in front of her, glancing at Kyou before ignoring him. "Are you ready?"

" _Always._ " Reimi answered calmly.

"Well then… I shall leave you two to your work." Despite being intimidated by Akashi's presence, Kyou still managed to sound arrogant. "Remember,  _Reimi-san_ , that you cannot ignore me any longer. After all, the medical field still needs you, don't you agree?" He darkly chuckled as he gave the two a short wave before heading for the hospital exit.

The two watched his figure fade from their view in heavy silence.

The moment she could no longer see him, Reimi leaned against the wall and slid down until she was on her knees. She breathed heavily, grabbing her arms as she was overwhelmed by suppressed emotions. "I…"

Akashi went down on his knee and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He paused as he noted the dry blood on her cheek and the roses on the floor, quickly connecting the dots. A dangerous light gleamed in his eyes for a moment before it dissipated. He then directed a question at her. "Did he throw the roses at you?"

She laughed emptily. "A gift, he said. Even though I hate anything that has an overwhelmingly strong smell…" She shook her head in an attempt to forcefully dissipate the fear Kyou had induced in her. "Is there really an emergency operation?" She was prepared to focus on her job again.

"No. I only said that to get him to leave." Akashi slowly unraveled the tight hold she had on her own arms.

Her fingers shook as he held them in his own. "Dammit, Akashi-kun. He's so scary. He's definitely not sane." Akashi noted her use of - _kun_ , closing the distance between them but also indicating how badly she had been shaken by Kyou. "How the hell- I don't know if- That creepy bastard definitely takes after his father. His father is just as controlling and insane as he is. Just what on earth have I gotten myself into…?" She spoke haltingly at first before she could reorganize her disjointed thoughts and convey them coherently. "My personal life…"

Akashi said nothing as he held her close in his arms to give her a feeling of safety. She also held onto him tightly, no longer willing to think about the dark shadow that now loomed in her future.

* * *

As Akashi and Reimi walked through the hallway after the fiasco with Kyou, they heard a high pitched scream coming from Kori's room. Reimi immediately dashed forward, sliding the door open.

Nurse Awa was on her knees, clearly horrified. Moving in front of her, Reimi paused and stared at the gruesome scene before her.

"Akashi-sensei, please make sure that no one else comes into this room. Take Awa-san to the resting room and give her a sedative."

Akashi had already called security by the time Reimi had stumbled onto the scene, so he murmured his assent and escorted the trembling nurse out of the room.

The stench of blood permeated the air, making her slightly nauseous. The bodies of Kori and the guard were stacked in a pile with their combined blood flowing down in rivers onto the hospital bed. Their necks had a clean cut through their major arteries. On the wall, ' _SILENCE_ ' was written in red with what was most likely their blood.

She walked over carefully and checked their pulse despite being aware that it was pointless to do so at this point. "Their bodies… The temperature… Must have at least been an hour at most since they were killed." Her hands curled into tight fists as they shook in anger. "They  _dare_  to kill my patient and the guard?"

Taking a deep breath and stepping up to the window, she pulled out her cell phone and called the blue-haired officer from before. However, no one answered the call.

"Is he busy…?" She frowned. The security Akashi had called arrived then, so she informed them to not let anyone close to the room. She then proceeded to sit down on a chair on the other side of the room, patiently waiting for Aomine to answer her calls as she kept vigil over the two bodies.

* * *

"Thank you very much for visiting, Aomine-san. My mother is slowly recovering, but perhaps due to the stress caused by such a traumatic experience, she hasn't woken up yet." Hiyori sighed as she led the officer through the hallway. When she noticed the door was slightly open, she quirked an eyebrow. "Where's the guard…?"

Aomine immediately slammed the door open, spotting an unknown figure standing near the comatose Tsukishiro Kuromi. He held a dagger in one hand that was dripping with blood. Aomine quickly closed in on the person and successfully landed a roundhouse kick on them, causing them to fly to the other side of the room. The dagger left the assailant's hand due to the sudden attack and flew to the wall, splattering a messy trail of blood onto the floor before it hit the wall and clattered to the ground.

"Mom!" Hiyori ran up and held her mother's hand, sighing in relief when she found no apparent injuries. "They didn't get to her yet."

"Call security!" Aomine ordered her before he was suddenly hit on the head by a hard object.

The culprit sneered as he carelessly tossed aside the nearby lamp he had used to hit Aomine with onto the floor. "I told you that the next time we meet, it would be your death, Officer Aomine." Aomine slumped down to the ground, groaning in pain as he clutched his head.

Hiyori froze in fear as she assessed the danger before her, rapidly calculating the possibility of her surviving the current situation with her mother and the officer. Her hand finally slammed against the security button as she made up her mind to take down the culprit, even if she died in the process. When the culprit growled at her actions, she picked up a chair and threw it against the male to catch him off guard. She quickly followed with a stab to the eyes with her fingers, but he managed to kick her in the stomach before she could do so.

The man grabbed ahold of her hair while she was still wheezing from his kick and slammed her against the wall in anger. Adrenaline pumped inside her as she proceeded to grab and bite the attacker's arm hard before slamming her foot into his groin. The attacker yelped and tried to make her let go of his arm when they both heard the sound of security rushing towards the room.

Having recovered, Aomine finally stood up and tackled the man down, forcefully freeing Hiyori from the culprit's grasp. She gasped and dropped to the ground as her mind trying to keep up with everything happening in such a short amount of time. Before security entered the room, the culprit threw Aomine off of him, causing him to fly to the entrance and crash into the security officers who had just opened the door.

Disoriented, Aomine got up only to find the culprit out of sight. He slammed his fist against the wall in anger. "He escaped  _again_!"

The steady beep of the heart monitor hooked up to her mother sounded very loud to Hiyori then as she heard the sound of several voices that she couldn't make out coming from above her. The last thing she noticed was the rapidly approaching hospital floor as she fell unconscious.

* * *

"Aomine, I heard that you got wrecked by the culprit." One of the officers patted him on the back as Aomine muttered colorful words under his breath. "Well, it's a good thing that you're alive though. You have a package waiting for you on your desk."

"Thanks." He trudged to his desk, holding his head in an attempt to soothe his aching head before gingerly slipping into his chair. An innocent small box was sitting in front of him on his desk. He sighed. "What is this? Who the hell is Gen?" The name sounded oddly familiar, but he could not pinpoint the exact source. "Where have I…?"

Grabbing a box cutter from another desk, he opened it within seconds, finding nothing but a small coin locker key and a tiny map. "Why is there…?" He sighed and ruffled his hair in frustration. "This is ridiculous."

Shoving the key and map into his pocket, he gave a short wave to his fellow co-workers. "I'm heading out. I'll be back in a few hours or less."

"Stay safe and stay out of trouble!" One of them called out. Aomine glared at them before laughing sardonically.

* * *

When Aomine finally reached the coin locker and unlocked it with the key he had received earlier, he took out a large envelope and speedily went back to his department. On his way back, he bought some food from the convenience store. "I think I'll take my time finding out what this is." He murmured to himself.

Once he reached the building to his department, his fingers tightened around the envelope. "Can't ignore it anymore, can I?" He sighed and finally started to speed up.

When he entered the room, no one seemed to be free anymore. "Must have a huge case or something." He decided not to bother anyone and headed straight for his desk.

Aomine then sat down in his seat and pulled out the papers inside of the envelope. What he saw on there made his eyes almost bulge out. "Are you serious…? This-! Who?"

It was an original copy of several financial statements. Not only that, there was evidence of the slush fund that the Special Police Task Force was rumored to be searching for. "Gen-san… Just what… Who the hell are you?"

Getting over his shock, he finally smirked. "Satsuki is  _so_  gonna get mad at me."


	15. Chapter 15

"Tsukishiro-sensei? I'll call for her. Just give me a second." Nurse Awa smiled brightly at the two adults. Taking out her walkie-talkie, she cleared her throat before speaking when she heard Reimi pick up the line. "Tsukishiro-sensei. There are two people here to see you. Can you come up to the front?"

" _Will do. I'll be there in a minute._ "

"Thank you!"

" _No problem._ " The conversation ended as quickly as it had started. Once Reimi arrived, the nurse patted her on the back.

"I'll prepare for your rounds so that you can immediately do them after this." Nurse Awa then bowed to the two adults before walking away.

Reimi stood there, frozen to the spot. Slowly recovering from her shock, she walked up to them and bowed. "It has been a while." She was unable to meet their eyes.

The last time she had seen them was after her best friend had died. Back then, they had looked at her with hateful and blaming eyes. She found that she could not face them anymore, also holding herself responsible for her best friend's death. They were her best friend's parents, after all. She had failed them as their daughter's best friend and as a doctor.

"It has." The mother spoke softly.

"Please raise your head, Tsukishiro-san." The father patted her shoulder. She reluctantly and hesitantly raised her head, facing the two with a solemn gaze.

"You were the one who put flowers on our daughter's grave?"

"Yes. It might not be much, but it was the least I could do when visiting Kanazawa… and while I understand that I should not have visited her as I have no right to do so, I…" She paused as tears started to pool in her eyes. She looked down and attempted to blink them back. "I miss her."

They stayed silent as she struggled to keep her composure; however, a tear managed to escape one eye and dropped to the ground. Wiping her eyes quickly, she faced them once more. "How can I help you today?"

Their shoulders stiffened. "Well, we…" The father sighed. "We wanted to apologize for our behavior a few years ago. I know that we took our anger out on you. We know that you did your best to try to save her, but we were too filled with grief to think about it properly. Our behavior was appalling and I'm sure that our daughter would be angry at us."

The mother touched her shoulder. "It's not your fault. You have every right to see our daughter. Come to Kanazawa whenever you wish to see her. You are not at fault and I'm sure that my daughter would agree with my words right now." She smiled sadly at Reimi. "We have wronged you and do not deserve your forgiveness, but we hope that this will help you move on a little bit more."

Reimi choked back her tears. "There is nothing to forgive because anyone is allowed to mourn in the way they wish. If blaming me helped you move forward, then that is fine by me. But thank you for saying this to me. Thank you for coming here so far from Kanazawa to tell me this." She tried to smile, but the tears finally rolled down her cheeks.

After her best friend's parents left, Reimi stood there in a daze until Nurse Awa came back to help her start her rounds. "Tsukishiro-sensei?"

"Ah, I'm coming." She sniffed and wiped away her tears. Getting a hold of herself, she gave a shaky smile to the nurse before continuing with her rounds for the day.

And just a little bit, she felt like herself once more, free from her constraints.

* * *

Aomine and a group of other officers marched into the hospital with one sole purpose: to search the place for more evidence of the corruption case and of the slush funds. While Momoi lectured him for an hour for withholding information from her, he decided that it was worth the lecture as he knocked on the door of the hospital director's room.

"Come in." The infuriating man called out.

Aomine charged in and flung the door open with style. He smirked.

"What do you want, officer? I doubt it's something measly like a small meeting?" The director looked oddly relaxed in his chair.

He pulled out a paper. "We have a search warrant to search your hospital. If you want to complain, complain to your bad luck."

The man laughed loudly. "Go ahead and search. I'm not stopping you, am I?"

This made Aomine frown a little, watching him with suspicion. The director really was too relaxed when this was supposed to be the start of his panic. "Get everything from this room and from the administrators' rooms." Many officers began stuffing items into boxes and carrying them out.

Even so, the director was too calm to Aomine's displeasure. "Why can't this be more simple like basketball…?" He muttered under his breath.

* * *

Aomine slammed his fist against the table. "I knew this was too good to be true!"

"We've searched everywhere and looked over everything twice. How can it be that nothing remained? Not even a trace?" One officer ruffled his hair in frustration.

An older officer growled. "What's even more disturbing was how the director looked so relaxed."

"I suspect that someone is behind him… Someone higher than him… Someone with more power. We just need to find out who it is, so that we can stop it from interfering with our investigation." Aomine leaned against the table as he crossed his arms, glaring at the now empty boxes. "Then there is the culprit who killed… No. Slaughtered Kori and Officer Nori in that humiliating way as if they were animals. I'll never forgive them - whoever it is."

"We'll figure it out. We will." The captain stood tall as he answered with a certain degree of wariness. "We'll avenge their deaths as well."

* * *

Reimi stuffed her hands into the pockets of her white coat when she felt a small metal item. "What's this…?" Pulling it out, she stared at the familiar flash drive. "With all the chaos going on these days, I can't believe that I forgot about this." It was the flash drive that Kori gave her when he had woken up for a brief moment.

Sitting down in her private office, she connected it to her computer, wondering what was inside of it. "Well, he did tell me to open it after he died." Her curiosity was starting to overwhelm her rationality. Shaking her head, she was about to pull it out of her computer, but in the end, she gave in to her curiosity. "I'll just hand it to Aomine-san afterwards…"

At first, it looked like a normal folder until she clicked on it. There were hundreds of files and folders inside of it. Clicking on one of the files, she found a list of names and ages. There were in no particular order as gender and age seemed randomized. "Hideki, age 2. Ayumi, age 30. What's all this? There doesn't seem to be an end date written - even though the start date for whatever this is is written… Are they continuing to do this? Making this list?"

Closing that one, she opened a folder that said 'Pictures.' What she saw made her stiffen uncomfortably. There were hundreds of pictures where victims were mutilated or were clearly being experimented on. What made her feel even worse was when she noticed that the pictures appeared to be taken clinically.

The moment she saw the dead body of a small child, she snapped. "Who on earth would do such a thing to people?!" Anger clouded her mind as she slammed her hand against the table. Breathing heavily, her heart raced and pounded, indicating the horror she felt in response to the pictures.

She shut her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Slowly closing the window for that folder, she found a file called 'Data.' "I have a bad feeling about this, but…" Opening it, she found a long report about the experiments done and the purpose for it all.

"To no longer need a world filled with surgeons…" She read out loud. "The last hope to live for the common people was given to the surgeons but true hope is only given to those with money. The person with the most money is given the first right to live by the structure of the medical world. Since surgeons are given the right to be the last hope for the common people, they control the world and can stop the ones without money to live..."

She continued on. "I have seen how this world works. I used to work as a medical practitioner until they revoked my license. However, I still dream of a world where my ideals are the base foundation that people will follow. These experiments were done to ensure that my ideals are indeed correct and that the medical world is clearly corrupted and needs to be fixed."

"This crazy-" Reimi's grip on the table tightened. "Ideals, my ass. Who the hell-"

Her heart stopped for a brief moment as she reread the name of the author.

" _Aku Kyou._ "

She breathed in and out. "That means that Kori-san covered up for Aku-san's crimes and was using it as leverage for his safety… Oh god… Does that mean that creepy bastard is still experimenting on people for his twisted ideals?"

* * *

"Mom! Mom, can you hear me?" Hiyori desperately called out to her mother. While her eyes were half-lidded, it was an obvious improvement from before.

"My daughter…" Her mother managed to whisper in a raspy voice.

"Do you want some water? I'll go get a doctor."

"Wait… I need to tell you something…"

"What is it, Mom? Can't it wait?" When she saw her mother shake her head, she gave her her full attention. "Go ahead and tell me then."

"I didn't want Director Aku's son to marry Rei-chan."

"What does that-"

"After I rejected his offer to arrange a marriage between the two, he was furious. Terribly mad and almost unstable. I think he had a hand in this…" Her mother's voice trembled.

"In what though?"

"In trying to kill me." The whisper was so faint that it barely registered in the room.

Hiyori sighed incredulously. "Mom, you're tired. Maybe he was mad, but that isn't reason enough for someone to kill you."

"But I…"

She pulled up the blanket over her mother and pat her shoulder. "You need to get some rest. I'll bring the doctor, so that he can check up on you. If you really want me to, I'll tell the officer for you, but it's his job to find and apprehend the culprit, not ours."

"...Alright."

Before exiting the room, Hiyori inquired. "Mom, do you remember who attacked you?"

"..." Her mother scrunched up her face as she tried to remember. "I think he had a lanky body and an average face. I don't remember much, but I do remember that he had a raincoat on and an umbrella in his hand for some reason…"

"I'll tell that to the officer as well. I'll be right back. I'm going to bring the doctor over now." Hiyori finally let the door shut behind her. As she went searching for the doctor, Hiyori fixed the bandages around her own head, causing the neck brace she had on to shift uncomfortably.

After bringing the doctor over to check up on her sleeping mother and informing Officer Aomine of her mother's speculations, she took out her cell phone, wondering if she should call a certain eccentric male. "Oh, what harm will it do if I told him… After all, they were the ones who told me that we can trust him..."

Once she dialed his number, she waited nervously for the other end to pick up.

" _Hello?_ "

"Hello, Midorima-sensei…"

" _Who is this?_ "

"Tsukishiro-sensei's older sister."

" _Ah, Tsukishiro Hiyori-san. How is your head? Should we meet to check up on that right now?_ "

"I… No, we don't need to meet up yet for the checkup on my head… That's supposed to be next week."

" _Then…?_ "

"My mom… She said that your hospital director had a hand in trying to kill her. What do you think?"

" _Your sister would know better than me, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised He is not a very good man, even though I can't prove it. But why does your mother think that?_ "

"Apparently the director approached her once to set up an arranged marriage between Rei-chan and his son. My mom rejected his offer and that made him really mad at her."

" _An odd motive but I wouldn't put it past him to harm someone for disobeying him._ "

"What should I-?"

" _Just keep your mother safe and out of sight until the case settles down. It's still dangerous for your mother to be in a different hospital or in our hospital. That would be the best action to take. Call me again if you get more information or for any other reason._ "

"Any other reason…?"

" _...Yes. I have to hang up now. I'll talk to you later._ "

"Wait, Midorima-sensei!" By then, he had already hung up on her as she stood in front of the door of her mother's room with an incredulous expression on her face. "For any other reason…? What could that be about…?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Mom, how are you feeling today?" Reimi sat in the seat with a stiff posture.

Her mother opened her eyes and smiled. "I feel a little better compared to yesterday. I can't wait to leave and go about my life again."

"That'll take a while since you're not even fully healed yet." She responded.

"I know." Uncomfortable silence fell upon them.

Her mother's face then scrunched up with a displeased frown as if remembering something unpleasant. "You know… Your father-"

"Stop. Don't bring Dad into this. He's my dad and I will not allow you to demean someone who is already dead." Reimi stood up, causing her chair to shift backwards. Her eyes turned cold. "While he never truly understood me, he still cared for me and wanted me to be happy. Although I get that you're bitter about him not giving us child support and leaving us to fend for ourselves, he's still my dad first and foremost. So if you're going to start talking shit about him, I'm leaving because it clearly means that you're okay."

"Rei-"

"No. I think I'll take my leave now. Perhaps I'll see you again when you're all better." She turned around, heading for the door. "Maybe we are never meant to see each other in person for a long period of time. Maybe calling and brief meetings are all we can handle between us." Her shoulders slumped as she stared at the white wall tiredly.

"Reimi, I-"

"No. While  _onee-chan_  can talk to you normally in person, I guess it's too hard for me. At least until you decide to finally listen to my words, which you never do anyways. No point in hoping for something that will never happen..."

After a few minutes of silence, Reimi spoke again but at a whisper. "When you get better, I'll call you."

"Okay." Her mother gave a subdued reply after realizing that she had already ruined her relationship with her daughter. There was no sign of it ever healing unless one of them changed completely. It would remain as a shallow one that Reimi seemed to be content with.

"..." Without waiting for her mother to say anything else, she shut the door behind her. Tears spilled out as she slid down to the ground, falling to a crouch. No one was nearby. She cried out, pulling at her hair and hitting her head against the wall softly. The complexity of her thoughts along with emotions from self-hatred to frustration overwhelmed her.

* * *

Reimi paused mid-step, staring at her sister's appearance. "What happened to you?"

"What?" Hiyori smiled warmly at her little sister.

"Why are you wearing a neck brace and why do you have bandages around your head? Is that an injury on your cheek...?" Reimi held her sister's cheeks in absolute worry. Her eyes darkened. "Who did this to you...? Who is the bastard that I need to kill...?"

"You can stop overreacting, Tsukishiro-sensei." Midorima appeared from behind her, wearing a plain grey t-shirt and brown pants.

"Shut up, Midorima-sensei. This is my sister. I'm allowed to overreact and worry over her." She snarled at him. He thankfully did not respond back to that.

"No need to snap at Midorima-sensei, Rei-chan." Hiyori lightly scolded before answering Reimi's question in a nonchalant manner. "Well, basically, Mom was almost killed by someone, but Aomine-san and I managed to stop him. That's when I got injured. Nothing to worry about though." Hiyori patted Reimi's head lightly as she smiled despite the serious nature of her answer.

At the mention of their mother, Reimi's hand twitched. She began to detach herself from her emotions. It was best if she remembered the recent fight with their mother in an unemotional state. "I see... Well, I'm glad that you're safe now… But why are you here,  _onee-chan_? Did someone invite you to see the basketball game?"

"Yes. Midorima-sensei invited me."

Reimi's eyes narrowed. "Oh…? Is that so…?" She pointedly looked at Midorima.

"Is that a problem, Tsukishiro-sensei?" He asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not." She glared at him. "What are your-"

"Serious. Nothing less." He answered coolly.

Her sharp gaze softened. "Then I suppose I'm fine with it. If it's you, I know that all will be well."

"I suppose I should be grateful to have your approval." He held out his hand to seal the unsaid deal with her.

She shook his hand. "You should. I'm tougher than our mom."

"Then smooth sailing." Midorima smirked.

Reimi laughed. "Not really. She's dense."

"As bad as you?"

She frowned. "What are you trying to say-"

"Tsukishiro-san." Akashi interrupted them.

"Ah, Akashi-sensei. Thank you for the invite." Her gaze lingered over his appearance for a brief second. Despite only seeing him for a second, she recognized the light blue t-shirt and grey shorts that he was currently wearing. He truly was aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. "Blue fits."

"Did you say something, my  _kawaii imouto_?" Hiyori ruffled Reimi's hair, having just returned from exchanging introductions with Akashi.

"Nothing in particular. I just see a person I don't recognize."

"Who?"

"The guy with the dark red hair." She pointed out.

Midorima looked at her in surprise. "You're already acquainted with Kuroko?"

She nodded. "I worked with him a few times for a child patient. We get along pretty well despite the initial conflict."

"How have you been, Tsukishiro-sensei?" Kuroko pleasantly greeted her.

"Good. It's weird seeing you outside of the hospital though, Kuroko-san." She grinned, patting him on the shoulder.

"You noticed him?" The unfamiliar male asked with an incredulous expression. "Oi, Kuroko. Maybe your presence is finally becoming stronger?"

"She's… She's a special case." Said nurse offered a sad excuse of an explanation.

"I never understood why people never noticed him. His skills as a nurse are good and he has a great sense of humor." Reimi crossed her arms as if personally taking offense. Akashi chuckled under his breath, finding the situation quite entertaining. "And he's easy to spot. His vibe pulls at me unpleasantly."

"Un… Unpleasantly?" Kuroko inquired with his usual neutral expression on his face.

"While I personally don't find you unpleasant, you're one of those  _Feelers._  I can sense them from a mile away, so that's why I find the vibe that screams out  _feelings_  to be unpleasant."

"I… Okay." Kuroko nodded without fully understanding her words. He decided it was probably a quirk of hers that was similar to Midorima's obsession with luck and Oha-Asa. There was no use in trying to comprehend it.

"Oh, I'll introduce you to my sister." She pulled Kuroko to her sister. " _Onee-chan_ , this is Kuroko Tetsuya-san. I worked with him before at the hospital. He's a pediatric nurse and a competent one at that. He's great to have around."

"Nice to meet you." Kuroko greeted politely.

"I'm Tsukishiro Hiyori. Nice to meet you too." Appearing to be completely unphased by Kuroko's lack of presence, she bowed at him as he did the same.

"So who are you?" Reimi faced the tall male with the dark red hair.

"Kagami Taiga. Working as a firefighter at the moment. Nice to meet you both." The unknown male introduced himself with a casual wave.

"Tsukishiro Reimi. Vascular Surgeon and Akashi-sensei's work partner. Nice to meet you as well." Reimi bowed politely.

"Tsukishiro Hiyori. Reimi's older sister. I guess since everyone else has stated their current occupation, I should as well. I'm a seismologist. Nice to meet you too." After giving a short bow, she smiled at the tall red-haired male.

"Oi, let's get the small talk done with! I need to play basketball already!" Aomine stretched out his arms and yawned as he walked over to them.

"About time you got here, Aomine." Kagami called out.

"Shut it. This time, I'll beat you." Aomine grinned.

"Then shall we begin?" Akashi pulled out the basketball and headed for the middle of the court. "The one who gets the most points in gets to decide who will buy the drinks this time."

"I'm so gonna win this. Tetsu, team up with me." Aomine looped his arm over Kuroko's shoulders. "Last time, you teamed up with Kagami!"

"Ah, okay." Kuroko nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we're gonna win this!" Aomine's grin only widened.

"Oi, Midorima, wanna team up?" Kagami asked.

"You already know my answer." Midorima stretched his arms as he watched the sisters huddle together on a nearby bench, chatting happily with one another. "Kuroko is the only one who'll team up with someone in each game. He's neutral."

"Then let's start." Akashi threw the ball in the air, allowing the others to try to grab it first.

* * *

"Why the hell are they not professional basketball players?" Reimi squinted her eyes, unwilling to believe what she was seeing on the court.

Midorima threw the ball from a long distance away. He turned around, shifted his glasses, and then leisurely walked to a comfortable area as the ball took its time soaring in the air before falling right into the basket. "Three points for me."

"He's amazing. Such accuracy." Hiyori murmured to herself.

"Yeah and his stamina is unbelievable." Reimi took a sip of her water. "Want some?"

"Yes." Hiyori took the bottle from her and drank some.

Immediately after, Kagami got a hold of the ball and power jumped to the basket, slamming the ball into it. "Score!"

"Not if I can help it!" The ball was snatched from Kagami as Kuroko used misdirection to lead it to Aomine's hands. Before Kagami could stop the male, he twisted his body to shoot the ball into the basket with ease. "And that's two points for me and for Tetsu."

"I'm really starting to think that everyone is in the wrong profession." Reimi huffed. Hiyori laughed out loud as she leaned against her sister.

However, Reimi continued to focus on the game, watching Akashi's next move. One second, he was walking casually to Aomine, but the next, his figure shifted like a blur, causing the officer to fall to his knees. Akashi claimed the ball and easily went through the guards. He then shot the ball into the basket. "Basket for me."

"I recognize that…" Reimi leaned forward to get a better look.

"You do?" Hiyori inquired.

"He used that move when a Cushing's Syndrome patient went crazy on me in the ER with a scalpel. Managed to steal it from the patient's hand too… It went by so fast that I couldn't process what happened."

"Did you get hurt?"

"No, nothing big to worry about." Reimi shrugged nonchalantly. "It was pretty cool how he did it though. I can't believe it was a basketball move."

Interrupting the two sisters' conversation, Aomine's voice cut through the court. "Let's not go all out today. I have a job to do today." Despite his words, he did not seem to mean it with the way he was grinning at them.

"That would be a problem for me as well." Kuroko appeared to agree with Aomine's words but the way he pulled at his wristband seemed to suggest otherwise.

Midorima shifted his glasses, smirking. "I still have plenty more to spare."

"C'mon. Doing it easy is never how we do things." Kagami grinned as well, rolling his shoulder.

Akashi held the ball tightly in his hands before letting it bounce. "Then prepare yourselves." His eyes widened as he moved forward, controlling his movements completely as if he had predicted the future for every single player on the field. It soon became a full on intense game as their focus intensified and their movements turned sharper.

During all this, Reimi fiddled with the flash drive inside of her pocket anxiously. She decided that she would give it to Aomine after the game when no one would be paying attention to her short interaction with the officer.

* * *

Kuroko walked into the resting room, standing with his cup of tea in hand and looking out the window. He still had plenty of time before he had to check on the patients again.

"Did you hear?" One of the nurses said in a hushed voice.

"Yes. It's about the director, isn't it? I heard that he would do anything to further his wealth and career. Maybe I should move hospitals soon."

"I should do the same. The police recently searched his room too, so it seems like something bad is happening with the director."

"I heard a disturbing rumor about the director recently. Apparently, his son did something very suspicious, but instead of forcing him to go to the police, the director covered it up by revoking his son's medical license and shushing up the whole incident until his son was long forgotten in the medical world."

"Wait, you're telling me that his son used to be a medical professional until a certain incident came to light?"

"Yes. I even heard that the incident had to do with using the bodies of the patients who died in the hospital as a part of his experiment."

"That's terrible. I can't believe the director's son would do something like that. I mean, we all know that he's interested in Tsukishiro-sensei. I would hate to be in her shoes right now."

"Tell me about it. Apparently the director threatened her to continue meeting his son unless she wanted to be permanently removed from the medical world."

"A psychopathic abuser and possibly a mad scientist."

"Don't tell anyone else about this though. I don't want us to get fired because we accidentally spread negative rumors about the two."

"That's true. Let's go back."

"Okay." The two nurses stood up and exited the room hurriedly.

Kuroko continued to stand near the window, sipping his drink, as he processed the information he had just heard until Midorima entered the room. "Midorima-kun."

"Kuroko, is something the matter?" They sat down together.

"I… I just heard a disturbing rumor about the director and his son. It makes me a little worried for Tsukishiro-sensei." He paused before continuing. "Since you're closer to her than I am, I was wondering if you would advise me."

"Advise you? That's new. What is the rumor about?"

"I already told you about the rumor of the director's son being a psychopathic abuser, but…"

"Yes…?"

"Apparently he used to be a medical professional, but once the incident of him using the dead bodies of patients as a part of his experiment came to light, his father only revoked his son's medical license and that's it. Since the director only cares for himself and his wealth, he just shushed up the incident completely, instead of handing his son over to the police." Concern briefly pooled into Kuroko's eyes before it disappeared.

"I'm assuming there's more since you mentioned Tsukishiro-sensei?"

"Yes. The director ordered her to meet his son without considering her own opinion since his son's really interested in her. If she stopped meeting him, the director threatened to permanently remove her from the medical world. Is that even possible?"

Midorima clasped his hands as his eyes narrowed, calculating the situation and information he was just given. "It might be... For now, don't worry too much about it. I'll talk to Aomine about it and then I'll inform Tsukishiro-sensei to give her a heads-up on the danger of her situation."

Kuroko's shoulders slacked a little, indicating his relief. "Sounds good. I'm going to head back to the pediatric department then. I'll talk to you later, Midorima-kun."

After they parted ways, Midorima pulled out his phone. "I suppose I should inform all of them now, instead of later."

* * *

Akashi sat in his office with a board of shogi in front of him. The room held a chilly air, matching the heavy silence. Even a single footstep could be heard from where he sat. The  _pachik_  sound of the pieces that he set down on the board echoed quietly in the room. A calm yet pleased expression crossed his face for a moment before disappearing.

When he placed a piece down on the board as his second to last move, he murmured to himself. " _Oute._ Now… What will be your next move…?"

As he made the king move out of the way, he followed that piece relentlessly, whispering " _Oute,_ " to himself every single time.

The smile on his face then was calculative and cold. "So how will you move…? There is no escape. No matter what you try, I will see through it all." His eyes widened as if he was seeing through the board and discovering its many hidden moves.

" _Oute_ …"


	17. Chapter 17

"Kuroko-san. How is Jun-kun?" Reimi pulled out the child patient's chart. "His surgery went well, but how is he personally?"

"Jun-kun got his shots and took his medication on time. He seemed a little timid and unsure…" Kuroko lightly moved the child's bangs from his closed eyes. "I'm a little worried that he won't be able to adapt too well to this environment."

She frowned. "I agree. I'm not sure what to do. Any suggestions?"

Kuroko furrowed his eyebrows in a rare moment of displaying his emotions. "Let me think about it and I'll get back to you on it. For now, we should just look over him."

"Of course. There is also something else that concerns me." Reimi slipped the chart back into its pocket.

"The bruises?"

She nodded. "Yes. He did not have it when he came in, so it's not from his parents or family members."

"I'll try to keep a better look on him. Maybe then we'll find out why he has those strange bruises on his body..." He looked down at the child worriedly.

She smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you. I know that you have a lot on your plate right now."

He also smiled at her. "As long as we can keep him safe, I'm more than willing to do this job."

"I know that I can count on you." She patted his shoulder. "I don't want any more foul play involved with him when he's just finally healing from his illness."

"I agree." He pulled up the blanket for the sleeping child.

"I'll leave it to you. See you later then." Reimi turned on her heel to leave the room.

Kuroko called out. "Try to get some rest, Doctor."

"Will do!" She gave a short wave before exiting.

* * *

"I would like you to meet my ex-assistant and my friend. When I was still a medical practitioner, he helped me out a lot and still helps me out a lot. Since we'll get married in the future, I thought it would be best to introduce you both to one another." Kyou patted his ex-assistant's shoulder while holding Reimi's arm tightly. She winced a little before neutralizing her expression. "His name is Zai. Now, Zai, you should greet your friend's future wife."

"Nice to meet you,  _Kyou-sama_   _no_   _oyome-san._ " The male gave a rigid bow. His tone remained unnaturally controlled and empty. Reimi almost shuddered from the implications of his connection to Kyou.

"Nice to meet you too." She muttered softly to the man. She already hated being here in the restaurant. It was another one of those overly expensive places. The decor was lavish and extravagant as expected. The dark scarlet curtains, the smooth surface of the intricately designed wallpaper, the gold finish of the frame of every painting, and the soft dark carpet made up for a vintage style place. When they sat down on the antique chairs, she felt the satin finish of the tablecloth. It made her dread the coming days that she would be forced to endure. "Maybe dying would be a better option."

"Did you say something,  _Reimi-san_?"

"I said that we should hurry up and order something to eat since I have a night shift today." Reimi commented nonchalantly.

"Of course. Waiter!" As they ordered their food, Reimi wisely stayed quiet. The two men talked to each other as if they were best friends, but she noted that the content they spoke about was far from what normal friends usually discussed. Zai's unnaturally monotonous voice carried on with no sign of emotions. It unnerved her.

Reimi also felt like she had seen this man before. However, she just could not pinpoint as to where, so she continued to watch him carefully to try to spark her memory. Perhaps if there was a way to take his phone or identity card, then she would remember the male. His bag was right next to her with his cell phone in the outside pocket. It would be too obvious if she just asked to borrow his phone, but trying to steal it when they were right there would lead to her getting herself killed.

It was only when Kyou's hand gripped hers tightly over the table that she stopped her train of thought. Reimi twitched uncomfortably. " _Darling_ , don't look at other men while you're with me, even if it's my friend… It makes me jealous."

Her hand struggled to leave his. "My hands are my life as a doctor, so let go if you wish for me to remain here." At those words, he loosened his grip and moved his hand away from her.

"Of course." The smile he wore was unforgiving and vindictive, despite it looking warm to outsiders.

Her hand shook a little as she grabbed a glass of liquid to sip on when Zai immediately grabbed her hand to stop her, causing her to wince. As a result, the glass flew out of her hand and landed on Zai, spilling wine on his shirt and pants. It was only when she felt the cool sensation of liquid on her own clothes that she belatedly realized that she had almost drunk wine. "Oh no." Inwardly panicked a little, she snatched a napkin off the table and began to pat down his shirt to get some of the wine off of him, muttering apologies to the ex-assistant.

" _Reimi-san_." Kyou stopped her by forcing her to sit back in her seat, stopping her just before she could reach the spill on Zai's pants. "I'll take care of it, so sit tight and wait for us."

"Okay." A bit out of it, she almost cursed herself for her stupidity as she watched them head for the bathroom. As the two left, she managed to overhear Kyou say that he would order some clothes for his friend to change into. "Wait a second…" This was her chance. She grabbed her handkerchief and pulled out Zai's cell from the outer pocket of his bag. She then motioned for the waiter to come over.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I believe that we're done with dinner. Will you bring out the dessert for just two people? If my two companions ask for my location, tell them that I'm cleaning up the mess on my own clothes in the bathroom." She smiled sweetly at the waiter as he blushed a little before nodding.

"Of course."

"Thank you." Standing up, she slipped the phone into her pocket and headed for the bathroom. Once she entered, she headed for the window inside where the majority of the light was coming from. Taking out the phone, she tilted the screen to see the pattern they used as their passcode. It appeared to be in a 'Z' formation. She followed it carefully and just as she had hoped, the lock was released. "Z for his name, huh."

Oddly enough, there were no photos or anything else that people would normally have in their phones. When she checked the call history, there were only two numbers consistently being recorded. One was Aku Kyou as she unfortunately recognized the number, but the other was unknown. Knowing that it was a gamble, she double-checked to make sure no one else was in the bathroom before she cleared her throat and practiced copying the ex-assistant's voice and his way of talking. "Well, let's see if I'm really good at ad libbing on the phone."

She tapped the number in order to dial the number before immediately pressing the record function, patiently waiting for the other side to pick up. " _What is it. I told you to only call me after you took care of the rest who went into hiding._ "

She froze. The voice sounded familiar. The shudder she felt only confirmed her thoughts. It was the hospital director. "Apologies, sir. It's just that Kyou-sama-"

" _I really don't care what my son does. Just make sure that he doesn't screw up and make his stupid experiments come to light again. I had enough of that from last time…_ "

"Of course, sir."

" _Now then… You hid the evidence carefully, correct? The police came over last time and I cannot afford to let them confirm the evidence of the slush fund. It cannot be connected to me, do you understand?_ "

"Yes, sir."

" _Good. Then call me AFTER you have completed all of your tasks._ "

Before she could reply, the director ended the call. Her heart pounded furiously against her chest as she ended the recording. She then promptly emailed the recording to herself and to a few other people. Paranoid, she double-checked all the toilet stalls to make sure nobody was inside before entering a random stall. Latching the door, she pulled down the lid to the toilet before sitting down on one for a brief minute. After managing to calm down a little, she deleted the call record of the phone call she had just made along with the records on his email in order to hide the email she had sent to herself and others. Lastly, she deleted the recording of the phone conversation.

After wiping her fingerprints off the phone screen with her handkerchief, she left the stall and proceeded to blot the wine stain off of her shirt with paper towels. Once there wasn't anything else she could do regarding the residual stain, she headed back to the table. To her relief, the two had not returned. The dessert she had requested earlier was already placed on top of the table. Slipping the phone back into the pocket where it was before, she sat down and waited for them.

"Apologies for the long wait,  _Reimi-san_." Kyou smiled pleasantly at her while his ex-assistant stood behind him with a blank look.

"No worries. I ordered dessert for the two of you." She checked her watch for the time and cringed. "I need to head back to work now, so don't worry about sending me back. I'll take a taxi."

For once, Kyou did not argue with her. "Of course. Go right ahead."

Without waiting for another response, she grabbed her bag and walked out. Her heart continued to pound hard against her chest. When she was outside the building, she almost fell to her knees from sheer stress. The magnitude of her realization on what exactly was going on baffled her. "Take care of the rest who went into hiding…? Then does that mean that he's the one who…" She could not finish her sentence. There was a strong probability that the ex-assistant was the one who killed Kori and the guard. He could have also been the one who had almost killed her mother, her sister, and Aomine.

"I'm starting to think that there is more to Kori-san than just the corruption case. That can't be the only reason…" She bit her bottom lip as she called for a taxi. "Slush funds… Experiments… My head is starting to hurt." She rubbed in between her eyebrows in frustration. "There has to be a connection somewhere between all of them and the attempted murder on my own mom…"

After getting into the taxi and telling them where to go, she slumped down in her seat. "When is this going to end already…?"

* * *

"So you didn't see anything suspicious going on?" Reimi scrunched up her face, thinking hard on all the possibilities. "I suppose we can check on his bruises again to see if they've increased in number."

"Compared to last time?" Kuroko inquired.

"Yes. Let's hope that that isn't the case." Her eyes darkened a little. She slid the door to the room open. Finding everything to be normal, the two entered without suspicion. "He seems to be sleeping well though."

"That seems to be the case." Kuroko checked the child's arms and legs for any more bruises before moving onto the stomach and back. "He doesn't seem to have any other additional injuries."

Reimi sighed a little. "While that's a good thing, I wonder if I should be more worried or not. We still haven't figured out the cause… It doesn't really seem like a medical issue either, so it has to be something external."

"Don't worry too much, Tsukishiro-sensei. I know that we'll figure it out soon." Kuroko gently smiled at her before his face returned to its usual neutral expression.

"Shall we head to the next patient then?"

"Of course." Kuroko walked ahead of her, sliding the door open. Reimi followed, but just before the door completely closed, she heard a strange soft noise coming from inside the room. She stopped moving and wondered to herself if it was just her imagination. Without hesitation, she slid the door open quietly, immediately spotting a tall figure standing over the child. Her heart almost lurched out of her chest. Kuroko looked at her questioningly, noticing the stiff posture she suddenly had.

"Who the hell are you?" Reimi managed to say as she slipped into the room cautiously. Her hands curled into fists, ready to fight back if the person tried to retaliate. "Dammit, this is seriously tiring to see.  _Every. Single. Time_."

" _Reimi-san_." That voice made her almost nauseous. The way the person said her name boiled the anger within her. Now she knew where the bruises were coming from.

" _Aku-san_." She snarled, no longer holding back her disgust towards the male. He nonchalantly stood there with something in his hand. "Whatthe _hell_ is that in your hand?"

He then smiled warmly at her. "Something important. Something that will further my ideals in this dirty world."

"You mean your experiments? Were you going to use Jun-kun as an experiment…?" She inquired as she positioned herself next to a stool, spotting Kuroko standing near her from the corner of her eye. She took note that Kyou was not observant enough to notice Kuroko's weak presence. She also realized that Kyou strangely did not react to her knowledge of his experiments, almost as though he had already known that she knew.

"He is an important subject. Children are the greatest to see the effects of my experiments come into play." Reimi could now clearly make out what was in his hand. It was a small syringe. Kyou laughed out loud. "I always thought that you would see it my way though,  _Reimi-san_."

As he began explaining why Reimi would definitely see it his way in a dramatic fashion, Reimi whispered to Kuroko. "Get Jun-kun out of here while I distract him. Is that clear?"

"But-"

" _Do it._ "

"Okay, but I'll get security too."

She did not respond as she took a step closer to the male with a sweet smile on her face. " _Aku-san_. While I'm pleased that you think of me so highly, I don't think I deserve such attention from you." Swiftly snatching up the stool next to her, she whacked him on the head, causing him to drop the syringe. The syringe shattered on impact, spilling an unknown liquid onto the floor.

She only then noticed Kuroko the moment he brushed past her with the child in his arms, catching his brief glance at her before he promptly left the room. Unlike during the basketball game when she had been an audience member, she realized directly being on the receiving end of his misdirection was certainly something else.

Now that the child was safe, she dashed towards the security button when Kyou slammed her into the wall. Disoriented, she still tried to press the button as he lifted her by the neck with his hand. "I should have known better than to trust you… Today will be your death day for betraying me like this."

She choked as she tried to breathe for air. She struggled as she kicked him, but he kept her in place, tightening his hold on her neck. "Augh-"

"If I can't have you for myself, then I'll have you in death. At least then, you can no longer betray me."

"N-no." She managed to say. She knew she was close to passing out. Her vision blurred as she distantly heard the man laugh out loud. The sound of his voice caused goosebumps to appear on her skin. She would have shuddered if not for the fact that she was currently being choked by a psychopath.

"No, she says...  _We'll see about that_." His expression flickered dangerously. The insanity and darkness swirled in his eyes continuously like an endless whirlpool.


	18. Chapter 18

"Let go of her!" A security officer held out his baton as he slowly approached the two figures before him. There were several others behind him.

"If you come any closer, I'll break her neck!" Kyou warned them. At those words, the officers froze in place, unsure of what to do next. Reimi scratched at his hold in desperation, but he was unfazed by her actions, maintaining his tight hold on her.

While Kyou's attention was fixed on the security guards, Kuroko strode towards the director's son and swiftly injected sedation into him, wielding misdirection at its finest. The moment Kyou felt the slight pain from the stabbing of the syringe, he growled and flung his arm out blindly towards Kuroko who dodged easily. Kuroko successfully completed the injection and then tripped Kyou, disorienting the man.

Finally released from Kyou's grasp, Reimi slid down the wall behind her, coughing heavily while gasping for air. She gently touched her neck with her hand as she slumped to the ground. Kuroko promptly brought over an oxygen tank and pulled the mask over her mouth to help her breathe.

"Are you okay, Tsukishiro-sensei?" Kuroko questioned. Reimi observed Kyou as he lost the battle against sedation, noting that the sedation kicked in very quickly. Kyou was out like a light within seconds.

"Y-yes." Reimi managed to answer. Kuroko then brought her a cup of water which she drank slowly after removing the oxygen mask.

"I'll bring you some cooling medication for that." He referred to the bruise that would form on her neck due to Kyou's attempt at strangulation and promptly left the room to get it. In the meantime, Reimi pulled on the mask again to get more oxygen. The shock she felt from the incident slowly began to fade away as she breathed in more oxygen.

By the time security finished restraining the unconscious director's son, Kuroko came back with the aforementioned cream. He gently massaged the cooling cream over the skin of her neck, prompting a sigh of relief from her. Reimi lightly prodded her neck before confessing, "I don't want to experience something like that ever again."

"I agree."

* * *

"We just got the search and arrest warrant for them!" One of the officers excitedly announced.

Aomine stood up. "Then let's hurry up and head to the hospital. Who's going to contact Prosecutor Shin for the joint operation?"

"I will." Momoi entered the room with a pleasant smile. "All of you should go on ahead. After all, the Special Police Task Force is already on their way there."

"What?!" The officers quickly grabbed their respective items before dashing out of the room.

She watched them with amusement as Aomine rolled his eyes at her antics. "Don't do that, Satsuki. Your team isn't actually on their way to the hospital yet, are they?"

"Nope!" She smiled brightly before her expression turned serious. "Dai-chan, we let you and your team in the joint investigation with Prosecutor Shin for the corruption case because it seemed like Gen-san wanted it that way, considering the fact that he sent you the files on the slush fund. While we also took into account the fact that the late Kori was your partner, we mostly just wanted to honor Gen-san's last wish." Momoi sighed as she sat down on top of a desk nearby.

"Whatever, Satsuki. I'll see you later then." Aomine gave a short wave before exiting the room, following the others to the long-awaited arrest of both the hospital director and his son.

* * *

"Tsukishiro-san, how is your neck?" Akashi looked at her with concern. She breathed in steadily, closing her eyes briefly to collect herself. The director's son still lay on the ground unconscious.

"Better than earlier. It doesn't hurt as much, thanks to Kuroko-san." The oxygen tank was lain to the side with the mask. She was currently sipping on a cup of warm tea.

Midorima glanced at the unconscious man dispassionately. "Should we wake him soon?"

"Later." Akashi answered, swirling the tea in his own cup.

"Aomine-kun said that he's on his way with the police and the prosecutor." Kuroko was sitting on a stool, also drinking tea. Midorima had thoughtfully brought tea for everyone earlier. The moment he finished taking a sip, Kuroko's phone rang. "Hello?"

" _Oi, Kuroko. We're here. Bring that damn son to the director's room. Let Akashi and Tsukishiro about this._ "

"Okay." He ended the call. "Aomine-kun is here. We should take the son to the director's room."

"Security, please carry or  _drag_  the director's son to the director's room. We have visitors to greet with  _great pleasure_." Reimi stood tall, no longer outwardly affected by the traumatic experience from earlier. Her jade green eyes darkened considerably.

"Midorima. Kuroko. Wait here." Akashi ordered the two as he turned on his heel to leave with Reimi and the security guards who were carrying Kyou.

Once they were out of sight, Midorima sat down on another stool, watching the light blue-haired male sip on his tea again. "You're no longer worried, Kuroko?" He finally asked out loud.

"I was…" Kuroko's expression never changed despite his pause.

"But…?" Midorima inquired.

"But now… Now, there's nothing to worry about anymore." Kuroko smiled contently.

"Why do you say that? You were the one most worried about possible repeats of the past, especially when you came to know about Akashi's revenge." Kuroko patiently watched as his green-haired friend continued. "You were so worried that you even gave up on your own dreams and went to a nursing university to obtain a BSN."

"I didn't give up on all of my dreams. I just merely changed what I wanted to do. Being a pediatric nurse has been fulfilling for me, Midorima-kun." Kuroko swirled the tea in his cup, belatedly realizing Midorima's concern for him. "I don't regret changing my career path."

"You don't…?" Midorima looked genuinely surprised at his answer.

"At first, I was worried about Akashi-kun, which is why I impulsively went for a nursing university… That part is definitely true, but that wasn't the only thing that pushed me to complete my BSN at the university." He glanced at the green-haired male with a warm smile. "I had enough interaction with children who needed me more than a kindergarten teacher during my studies there. That was enlightening enough to change my aspirations."

"I see. I suppose it's a good thing that you feel that way." Midorima shifted his glasses before finally taking a sip of his own tea. He then shifted his gaze out the window. "Let's just hope that things end well on their end."

"I'm sure it will." Kuroko answered with an amused smile, allowing his  _tsundere_  friend to successfully change the topic.

* * *

The security walked in front with the unconscious Kyou while Akashi and Reimi walked behind them.

"Are you really okay?" Akashi held her hand, stopping her effectively. He then peered into her jade green eyes.

"I'm not okay, but I want to be there for this." She admitted to him quietly. "And… And you'll be there with me, so I'll be okay." A small smile graced her lips before quickly disappearing.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "It'll all end today."

Surprise flickered in her eyes at this unexpected move, but she closed her eyes for a moment, savoring his warmth. "I know."

A comforting silence lingered over the two until he interrupted it. "Shall we go then?"

Opening her eyes and taking a step away from him, she nodded at him solemnly. "Yes."

With their hands clasped together for a second, they finally let go and trudged onwards to the director's office.

It was only during their walk together that Akashi recalled what fueled and began his plan to get his revenge against the director.

While it felt like just yesterday for him when he made his long-term decision, about ten years had actually passed since then.

* * *

" _ **I suppose it's time for me to clean up Father's office." Akashi pulled out the key that his father had entrusted to him. Only a week had passed since he stood at his father's funeral, but enough was enough. Akashi decided that it was now time to clean up the place.**_

_**He walked over to the locked drawer after shutting the door for some privacy. The key fit perfectly, unlocking the drawer with a click. Pulling the drawer out, he found a large envelope inside. "What is this?"** _

_**Sitting down on his father's chair, he pulled out a stack of papers from inside of the envelope. He scanned the information on it before coming to a quick conclusion on the purpose of the files. "Mother's death…"** _

_**According to the letter inside, his father had been looking into his mother's death, considering it suspicious that she had died after having a supposedly easy surgery done. It was also then that Akashi noted that his father had wanted to get revenge on the director of the hospital that his mother had been hospitalized at. The director had covered up his own medical malpractice as he was the one who had done the surgery on his mother.** _

_**As Akashi continued flipping through the pages, he found that the doctors had diagnosed his mother's problem correctly. It was diagnosed as pulmonary embolism. That meant that there were blood clots in the deep vein of the inferior vena cava. She also had an adrenal adenoma, a benign tumor on the adrenal gland, that pushed against the inferior vena cava as well. Through various tests, the director confirmed the health issue as well before deciding to do the embolectomy surgery himself, especially since that the person was a VIP client.** _

_**The director had assured Akashi's father and mother that the surgery was simple and easy to do, so there was nothing to worry about. However, he had failed to remove the tumor completely, leading to a regrowth of the tumor after the surgery.** _

_**The growth of the tumor then led to an unusually and unnaturally fast high production of cortisol, which made her have Cushing's syndrome. Even so, the rate at which she developed Cushing's was deemed to be unnatural, so there were further speculations of possible foul play. Because they had only caught the fact that the tumor regrew, the director decided to do another embolectomy surgery to get rid of the rest of the tumor. Unfortunately, since they did not realize that she had developed Cushing's syndrome, she ended up passing away from stroke during the second embolectomy surgery.** _

_**Because the director did not want the public to know of his failure at completing such a simple surgery, he covered it up by announcing that her death was due to unknown complications of the body that led to a stroke. That was the start of Akashi's father's suspicions and hatred towards the hospital itself.** _

_**Akashi put the documents back into the envelope. He stayed silent with a contemplative look on his face. This was when he had decided to change his first choice in university to be the same medical school as Midorima.** _

_**Becoming a competent doctor was the first logical step to take in order to get his revenge on the director for his parents. Moving to Tokyo after high school was just a small step in his plan for the point guard as well. Everything would work out. He had no doubt about that.** _

_**Nevertheless, he put the envelope back into the drawer, locking it once more with the key that his father had given him. Before he left the room, he gave one last glance at the desk and closed his eyes warily.** _

" _ **Joban."**_

_**He then opened his eyes and let the door shut behind him as he walked away.** _


	19. Chapter 19

"You can't treat my son like this and expect us to go with you!" The hospital director slammed his hand against the table.

Kyou finally woke up groggily. "Wha-"

"Unfortunately, we have an arrest warrant for you two, so you don't have a choice." Aomine rolled his eyes as he flashed the warrant paper at them. "This time, you won't leave unscathed. Search the office again."

As police officers started to search the room at Aomine's command, the director laughed as he went over to his now conscious son, untying him. "You fools. As if there would be anything here."

Suddenly, a voice echoed in the room. " _What is it. I told you to only call me after you took care of the rest who went into hiding._ " The director's voice was coming from the phone in Akashi's hand. It was clearly playing back a recording.

" _Apologies, sir. It's just that Kyou-sama-_ " Reimi smiled at her attempt at pretending to be Zai, Kyou's ex-assistant.

" _I really don't care what my son does. Just make sure that he doesn't screw up and make his stupid experiments come to light again. I had enough of that from last time…_ "

" _Of course, sir_."

" _Now then… You hid the evidence carefully, correct? The police came over last time and I cannot afford to let them confirm the evidence of the slush fund. It cannot be connected to me, do you understand?_ "

" _Yes, sir_."

" _Good. Then call me AFTER you have completed all of your tasks._ "

"Where did you get that kind of forged evidence?! Someone's trying to frame me! I did nothing!" The director screamed out as Akashi ended the recording.

"This recording came directly from your son's assistant's phone." Aomine mentioned.

"That-"

"Zai was captured thirty minutes ago by our other policemen. Anything else you wish to say?"

"What are you even arresting me for?" The director managed to calmly ask.

"For corruption in the form of a slush fund and being an accomplice in an attempted murder case along with several other murder cases."

"You have no evidence of the slush fund." The director smirked, sitting back down in his seat in a relaxed manner.

"Then how do you explain these?" Aomine tossed a few copies of the hospital's past financial statements onto the table in front of the director. "And don't worry about ruining those because they aren't the originals."

"This-! Where did you…?"

"Courtesy of your previous secretary." Akashi interrupted with an unnaturally warm smile.

"Impossible, I heard that he died."

Akashi chuckled to himself. "That was a lie. He is very much alive right now."

"What do you mean?!" The director stood up in disbelief.

"The secretary wasn't actually killed. That was merely pretense. In exchange for keeping him safe, I received an interesting envelope of information from him. The key added a nice touch, don't you think?" Akashi explained. He pulled out a bunch of papers from a separate envelope, revealing several copies of the overseas bank the director had used to hold the slush funds for himself.

"That…" Beads of sweat trickled down the director's forehead.

Akashi continued relentlessly. "I met him back when he wasn't being followed. Long before Momoi met with him, which was when he was under your dog's watch."

"Akashi-sensei, stop joking around!"

"Believe me. I'm not 'joking around'. Gen-san has agreed to provide a testimony for the slush funds and for the experimental practices that your son committed. The medical malpractice that you tried to cover up for my mother's case… I will have it revealed to the world that it was actually because of your son's experimental practice that my mother, Akashi Shiori, died from Cushing's when she could have actually lived longer and wouldn't have developed that condition in the first place. To think he did that to her for such a ridiculous reason..."

"What proof do you have that my son did such a thing and that we covered up your mother's case?!"

"We have the proof in safe keeping." Aomine cut in. "But if you want references, here's a few." He placed down a list of victims, including Akashi Shiori, a couple of photos of the victims' mutilated bodies, and Aku Kyou's report about the experimental procedures and its purpose.

The director froze in silence.

"To cover up those experiments and the unnatural causes of my mother's death just so that you wouldn't lose your chance at taking part in the slush funds…" Akashi glared at the man. "Did you honestly believe that it would escape my notice? The speed and time frame in which my mother produced the high amount of cortisol that resulted in the development of Cushing's was clearly unnatural." The sharpness of his gaze made the director flinch.

"Aku Kyou. You are under arrest for multiple murders. You have a right to an attorney and the right to remain silent." Aomine handcuffed the son who looked confused and dazed. "Take him away."

"Yes, sir." Two officers led the son away until he began struggling.

"No, no! I won't be taken down like this! My research was for the greater good-"

Reimi rolled her eyes before snapping. "Oh, shut up already. For the greater good? Cut the bullshit. You're nothing but a murderer, trying to satisfy your own perverted urges and delusions. Using even a small child for your own twisted hallucinations is sickening!"

" _Reimi-san._ "

"No! Don't call me by my name. I never gave you permission to call me that and hearing that voice of yours using my name makes me want to puke!" She angrily shouted as Aomine held her back. "Bastard, you wanted to kill me, so that you could have me in death, but even if I were to meet you in the afterlife, I'd rather go to the burning flames of hell than be with someone like you."

At her words, the son lost all energy to fight back and his figure slacked completely. The officers finally dragged him out of the room.

"Burning flames of hell…?" Aomine snorted. "Harsh but to the point."

"I wanted to get that out of my system for quite some time now. It felt good to finally let it all out." Reimi rubbed in between her eyebrows with a small relieved sigh.

"Now then… Time for the old man to go where he belongs: jail." Aomine twirled a pair of handcuffs with his finger.

"I… You wouldn't dare! If you arrest me,  _they_  won't ever forgive you! The black curtain-!  _They'll_  save me!" He backed away into a corner, ready to escape at all costs. "Poison doesn't just begin from the roots... It starts from the beginning of everything: the earth itself! The world is already infected! You'll all be tainted by it one day! Heed my words!"

"Shut it, old man. You're ruining my day. Now then… Aku Futa. You are under arrest for being an accomplice for multiple murders and an attempted murder, along with having and using a slush fund for illegal purposes. You have a right to an attorney and the right to remain silent." Aomine immediately grabbed the director's arm and handcuffed him. "Take him away before he spoils my good mood."

"Yes, sir." Two other officers dragged him away as he struggled against them, laughing maniacally.

"Seems like you had fun, Aomine-kun." Momoi entered the room as she watched the director being taken away. "Good work, everyone."

"Momoi." Akashi approached the criminal profiler.

"Akashi-kun, it's been a while since we last saw each other." She smiled.

He nodded. "It has."

"Am I to assume that everything has gone according to your plan?"

"Yes."

"Will you _finally_  explain to me the plan you implemented?" Momoi asked, pouting a little.

"Satsuki, it was a triple screen play." Aomine cut into the conversation. Reimi stood to the side, finally getting to hear the full details to the plan that she had been partially informed.

"I first acted as a screen for Tsukishiro over there." Aomine pointed to Reimi. "And then gained the attention of the culprits by pressuring Kori and the Zai guy, making sure they paid attention to me."

"Then?"

"Then I became the main bait for the director and his son, making sure that they paid attention to me most of - if not all - the time. If they didn't pay attention to me, then Aomine-san took on the role of bait once more. Afterwards, he would then force them to pay attention to me again." Reimi explained.

Aomine nodded in agreement. "When I took on the role of the bait, it was to screen Akashi's movements. During that time, Midorima acted as the main communication and information network. He was the connection between his informants and the major players."

"The informants?" Momoi waited for an answer.

"Kuroko and Tsukishiro-san's older sister." Akashi replied with a relaxed expression.

"You made Tetsu-kun a part of your plan…!?" Momoi's eye twitched. "I'm assuming that you and Aomine-kun were the major players?"

"Yes. You yourself acted as a good support for our plan, even if you were not fully aware of it, Momoi. By confirming the supposed death of Gen-san with your superiors and pressuring the culprits, you made it easier for us to complete our roles in the plan." Akashi stated as he stood next to Reimi. "Thanks to everyone's efforts, faking Gen-san's death and obtaining all the evidence was done efficiently and properly."

"So by using everyone as a screen, besides Tsukishiro-san as she was the main bait, you were safe to do whatever you wanted in order to trap the culprits from doing anything else." Momoi concluded with a small sigh. "When everyone had their eyes on Tsukishiro-san, you took the chance to set up the trap and score at the first advantage."

"Exactly. It was the perfect  _Oute_. They never saw it coming." Akashi smirked. The cold and calculative gaze that he held remained.

Momoi finally motioned to the rest of the police and the security guards to leave the room so that they could start the investigation properly. This led to Aomine and the others exiting the room as well, leaving Akashi and Reimi alone in the office.

He stood still as if a little lost on what to do next. It was only when Reimi reached out to grab his sleeve that his calculative expression changed into one of warmth. Relief soon pooled into her eyes.

"And now…" He murmured and clasped his hands with hers. Akashi then whispered into her ear. "It's everyone's win."

They softly smiled to one another as he finally leaned his forehead against hers with his eyes closed in a relaxed manner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second to last chapter. The next chapter should be the last one and then there will be 4-5 extra chapters.


	20. Chapter 20 - FINAL

" _For the next news, according to an insider, Director Aku Futa committed suicide the first day he was sent to jail. His son, Aku Kyou, and his assistant, Zai Juu, were sentenced for life and for the death penalty. It has been further revealed that Aku Futa forcefully revoked his son's medical license in order to cover up the experiments his son had been doing in secret. Despite this, he never made any attempts to prevent his son from experimenting again, possibly because it did not negatively affect his chances of making connections with the people said to be behind him. These aforementioned people refer to the so-called 'black curtain' in the continuing corruption case that is currently being jointly pursued by the police and the prosecutors-_ " Reimi cut off the news by turning off the television at this point. She twirled in her seat, stopping once she was facing her desk.

Despite seeing everything on the news now, it still felt like a dream to have gone through all that. After her mother had recovered successfully with the help of her older sister, Reimi had chosen to transfer to a hospital in Hokkaido.

"Almost a year has passed by already, huh…" She leaned back in her chair, relaxed.

When she had approached Gosha-sensei about transferring to the hospital in Hokkaido, she had clarified to him that she was not transferring for the sake of running away. She had just needed some space and time for herself in order to reaffirm who she was as a person. Once she was ready, she would voluntarily head back to the hospital in Tokyo. "But I haven't contacted them since…"

The last piece of news she had heard before leaving was that Yamada was once again assigned as Akashi's work partner and surgery assistant. Not only that, Department Chief Gosha was appointed as the new hospital director by the board of directors, while Doctor Masuda became the chief due to Akashi's recommendation to the newly appointed director. "I expected Akashi-sensei to become the chief right after that, but I guess he wanted to spend more time in his newly chosen speciality…"

She stood up, hanging up her white coat. "Yuki-san, do you want me to get you some baked goods from the usual bakery?"

The nurse's expression brightened. "Yes. Please get me something ridiculously sweet!"

"Got it!" Reimi waved and headed out of the hospital. Walking towards the quaint bakery frequented by hospital staff, she stared up at the light blue sky with nostalgia. It reminded her of the light blue yukata that Akashi had worn in Beppu. When she finally reached the bakery and entered it, the smell of sweet baked goods wafted in the air. From behind the counter, a purple haired male with a ponytail stood awkwardly as he pushed out more baked goods.

"Good afternoon, Murasakibara-san." She greeted him. He nodded in acknowledgement. "Could I get two slices of cheesecake, six puddings, and one fruit roll cake for today?"

While she never ate much from his bakery, the hospital staff were huge fans of his baked goods. A small taste of his pudding had instantly won over her heart as well. "Today is one of the staff's birthday, so we decided to get her a roll cake from here. She's such a huge fan of your roll cakes." She chatted with the languid patisserie.

"Here you go." He handed her several boxes after she paid him.

She smiled brightly at him. "Thank you! Hope you have a great day, Murasakibara-san!" Once she saw him nod in response, she left the store in a good mood.

"I'm back." Reimi called out to the nurse.

"Ah, welcome back! Did you bring them?"

"Of course." She laid out the boxes and put the roll cake in the refrigerator. "You'll tell her that we got the roll cake for her birthday, right?"

"Of course I will! Thank you for the cheesecake!" The nurse immediately took a bite from one of the two slices of cheesecake. "By the way, someone is waiting for you in the resting room."

"Got it. Thanks." Reimi slipped on her white coat again before heading to said room.

As she slid the door open, her heart lurched against her chest and she almost forgot to breathe. The familiar red hair and maroon eyes paralyzed her. At first, she thought that she was imagining him, but once he smiled warmly, she knew that he was definitely real. "Akashi-sensei… What are you doing here?" Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

She hadn't been expecting him at all, but the sound of his voice and his gaze turned her into a blushing and flustered mess. "I'm here to take you back as my partner."

Reimi willed herself to breathe in and out. She would not embarrass herself in front of him now. "I always presumed that I was to return of my own accord." She swore in her mind about how he was going to turn into her weakness, especially since she had not seen him for around a year.

"I missed you." His words just then shook her will.

"But I-"

"Everyone at the hospital wants you to come back. They also miss you." Without letting her continue, he took a step towards her. "I want you to come back."

"Akashi-sensei…" She took a step back. However, he would not back down so easily.

Akashi reached out and took her arm as his maroon eyes locked with her jade green ones. "Won't you come back with me?"

There was a few minutes of silence before Reimi sighed. She replied with a deadpan expression on her face. "I hate planes."

He chuckled under his breath. "I know." Amusement flickered in his eyes.

"I'm going to miss the bakery here."

That caught him off guard for a second before he put two and two together. He smiled knowingly as he asked, "You are?"

"Yes. We should go there once before we leave." She smiled warmly at him. "The baker there is quite interesting too. His name is Murasakibara Atsushi."

Akashi was unsure as to whether or not he should laugh at the fact that she had managed to unknowingly meet the last member of the Generation of Miracles. "How do you manage to...?"

"Yes…?" Reimi looked at him questioningly.

He shook his head. "It's nothing. I suppose it would be nice to see him again. I haven't seen him in a while after all."

"...Again?" She wondered if she should be horrified that she had unwittingly met yet another one of Akashi's friends by accident. "Don't tell me…"

* * *

Reimi slumped in her seat uncomfortably. "When will it be over…"

"In two hours." Akashi replied as he noticed her squirming. His fingers twirled around the locks of her hair before he gently moved her head to lean against his shoulder. That seemed to do the trick because she immediately stopped squirming around.

She then reached out to clasp her hand with his. He did so without protest. "Tell me about everyone." She whispered to him.

"Midorima once consulted me on how to romantically pursue the opposite gender. He was quite irritated by our circle of friends and their lack of experience in that department, including myself." Akashi said wryly.

This led to Reimi shaking with silent laughter. "And… And then? Did he manage to succeed in furthering his relationship with my sister?"

"Ah, so you knew…"

"Ever since the basketball game," she acknowledged.

"Well, according to him, they still meet up once in a while. His excuse to her is that he would prefer inquiring in person about her concussion... despite it being long healed by now."

Her thumb absentmindedly drew small circles on the back of his hand. "Wow… Poor Midorima-sensei. If he has to keep using that excuse to meet up with her, I truly wonder when my sister will realize he's trying to court her without her running screaming in the opposite direction. My sister is rather hopeless regarding being romantically pursued." Reimi snickered slightly at Midorima's plight. "I can't wait to see him again."

"You didn't miss me?" Akashi lightly asked, turning to her with a full blast of what Reimi could only register as a breath-taking smile.

She froze then, causing her cheeks to turn a little red. She then hid her face in his shoulder. "I missed you… a lot more than I expected I would."

Akashi smiled contently as he brought the back of her hand to his lips gently.

* * *

Reimi never let go of Akashi's hand as they stood in front of his mother's grave. "Should I…?"

"No, you can stay here."

"Okay." She watched him in silence as he bent down on one knee to touch the gravestone with a sad smile.

"Mother, it's finally over. You can rest in peace now." He murmured softly.

When he stood up, she squeezed his hand reassuringly. His maroon eyes softened and he leaned his forehead against hers. They stood still for a few minutes in silence, letting the wind caress their skin and the sun shine over them gently.

Akashi then faced the grave again. "I would like to formally introduce you to someone special, my partner... The person I like."

His words slowly processed in her mind until she whipped her head to face him with a startled expression. "Person you like…?" Her voice almost squeaked. She honestly was not surprised about this revelation but to hear it from him directly was a different story.

"Ah, now that I think about it… I never really told you." He then faced her with a serious gaze. "I like you, Tsukishiro Reimi-san."

"...Okay." She blinked. He steadily smiled at her. Feeling a little embarrassed, she hid her face in his shoulder again as she grabbed his shirt. She mumbled, "I like you too, Akashi Seijuurou-san."

Clearing her throat and getting a hold of herself again, Reimi stood in front of the grave and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you,  _Akashi-sensei no okaa-sama_. My name is Tsukishiro Reimi and I am your son's partner." She paused and looked up at him. "I wonder if that was good enough… Should I say something else?"

Akashi laughed a little. "It was perfectly fine. Let's go take a walk. It's been a while since we've been able to do that."

"You're right." She grabbed his hand and held it close as they walked side by side, reminding her of their stroll together in Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa. Her eyes were filled with affection and nostalgia.

He pressed his lips lightly against the back of her hand again, watching her closely. "It's a little strange to hear Akashi-sensei from you when we're alone together. Can't you call me Seijuurou for once?"

"Eh…? That's too high of a hurdle for me." She stared at him incredulously.

He whispered in her ear. "I'll call you Reimi. Only when we're alone..."

She bit her bottom lip. "Well…"

"Reimi, please?"

Her mind whirred like crazy until she finally gave him a short curt nod. "I'll call you… Seijuurou… only when we're alone."

"That's a good start,  _Reimi_." She almost shivered at the blatant use of her first name, but it was not unpleasant.

"Well then,  _Seijuurou_ , where are we headed off to?" His eyes were intense when he heard her use his first name before reverting back to its original warmth.

"We're off to a nearby teahouse for lunch before going to the hospital." He leaned his forehead against hers affectionately. "Does that sound good?"

"Yes. I think I'll get something with rice today." Reimi almost skipped happily as they headed to the teahouse.

"Not noodles?" Akashi questioned with an amused expression.

She shook her head seriously. "Not noodles."

* * *

_Code S.A.D. stands for the Special A &D team. However, it is the symbol of last hope for those who are on the brink of death, the gate to the end or the continuation of their life._

_We are S.A.D._

_Aku Kyou came to the conclusion that surgeons were the last dismal hope of the common people. However, it has been determined by our fellow members that we are not their last hope. We are merely the gatekeepers._

_Ultimately, it depends on you and your will to live. After meeting millions of people and experiencing both the death and rejuvenation of many, we firmly believe this._

_You are the last hope of your life._

_You are the true S.A.D._

_**END.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last main chapter of the series, but the next upcoming chapters are the extras!


End file.
